I am sure that most of you would have seen the video that went viral from a recent Coldplay Concert where the CEO of the Tech firm ‘Astronomer’ was caught hugging a woman rumoured to be the Company’s Chief People Officer.
CEO Andy Byron, married with children had his arms wrapped around Kristin Cabot, appointed as CPO in 2024. She has not confirmed she was in the video.
Byron has since resigned and in a statement the Company said “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently that standard was not met.”
Can you regulate workplace relationships?
In some cases, workplace romances may cause no problems at all, particularly where the individuals work separately from one another, such as within different teams or at different locations. However, in other cases, workplace relationships can pose serious risks to employers, especially where the individuals work closely together, or one has managerial responsibilities for the other.
In such cases, other employees may complain of differential treatment or, in the case of a relationship between a supervisor and a more junior employee, that the supervisor shows favouritism towards their partner.
These notions can have a detrimental impact on the whole team.
Further problems can also arise when the romantic relationship breaks down. In these situations, it is unlikely that the workers will agree to work together and, if ordered to do so, there is an increased possibility of argumentative or disruptive behaviour.
If the working relationship becomes untenable in this way, businesses will need to consider separating the employees or, where their organisational structure makes this impractical, dismissing one of them. However, employers should tread carefully before proceeding to dismissal in these circumstances, as the dismissed employee could seek to bring claims for unfair dismissal and/or discrimination – most likely sex discrimination. Any decision to dismiss an employee following a romantic break up should therefore be firmly based on organisational requirements and not gender.
Mitigating the risk
Organisations may be able to prohibit romantic workplace relationships entirely. However, this can often have outcomes such as discouraging transparency and encouraging colleagues who enter into relationships to resign.
Instead, you could consider implementing a workplace relationships policy. This can be used to set boundaries and outline guidelines regarding acceptable conduct. For example, the policy should make clear that employees must not allow personal relationships to influence their decision making and that they should continue to act professionally and uphold confidentiality at all times.
The policy should also require staff to disclose their relationships so they can be monitored. It could also remind employees that inappropriate behaviour at work or using the IT systems is unacceptable and may amount to a disciplinary offence.
In this way, a relevant policy will help you to outline expectations and will make it easier for you to take disciplinary action should employees fail to adhere to those standards.
Sexual harassment
It is also important that you remain alert to the possibility of sexual harassment. This risk is particularly acute where an employee is unwilling to accept a break up or makes undesired advances towards a colleague. You may remember our previous communications on this subject and that in order to comply with the positive duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, close attention should be paid to active and past workplace relationships.
You should conduct a risk assessment, provide training and implement measures to minimise the risk of sexual harassment occurring. A sexual harassment policy would be particularly helpful to set boundaries and warn staff of the consequences of such behaviour, often summary dismissal.
BP recently decided to strengthen its policy on workplace relationships and this has resulted in staff being ordered to disclose all intimate relationships, whether or not there is a potential or perceived conflict of interest, or face being sacked. For its senior leaders, the policy goes further, requiring them to declare any intimate relationships with employees or agency workers occurring within the last three years.
There are no legal rules governing relationships at work, but those relationships can give rise to conflicts of interest, actual or perceived bias in decision making and issues around confidentiality, as well as potential legal claims against the employer where a relationship goes south.
In response to the advent of the #MeToo movement, a lot of businesses introduced ‘relationship at work’ policies.
Written by Lucy Williams FCILEx
Head of Employment Law & Human Resources at Key Group Services Ltd