date coworkers very carefully
It happens, co-workers sometimes get emotionally or romantically involved with each other. If this happens to you or your employees, handle the situation with care. Responsible adults have a right “get involved.” However, the right does not extend to impacting job performance or damaging the horse business. Here are some things to watch out for when you or your employees get involved with a co-worker.
1. Employees may sometimes have to choose between loyalty to each other and loyalty to the job. This could lead to things like employees covering up for each other, or “ganging up on” the employer or other employees. Remember that on the job employees are separate employees. Employees should be careful not to act as a “couple”, and employers should watch out for this phenomenon.
2. If an employer takes disciplinary action against an employee, and that employee is involved with another employee, the other employee should stay out of the situation. The boss has a right to deal with each employee separately without interference from others.
3. Be aware that one employee could be fired and the other not. Both employees and employers should think in advance about how to handle the situation. If you both employees decide to leave, do so with tact and care. If you are the one that has not been fired, do not abandon your employer. Give notice in the normal way. Don’t burn bridges. Employers take note that when one involved employee is fired, the other one is likely to go too.
4. Be alert to public displays of affection which may not be appropriate in front of customers, employees, or children. Remember employees should relate only as professionals when on the job, and to keep public displays of affection to their own time and their own space. Employers should insist on this.
5. Beware of sexual harassment or pressure. If one employee is the supervisor of the other and is using issues relating to the job to pressure the other employee or keep a relationship going, it is time to terminate the relationship regardless of the consequences. This may mean leaving the job, or could lead to being fired.
6. Successful intimate relationships are an art which seems increasingly rare these days. There is no reason for co-worker relationships not to evolve into close relationships provided that the result does not impact job performance or your the horse business.
7. Be aware that employers may have moral concerns about the relationship. Employees be prepared to make a careful decision between making an issue out of what you feel are your moral rights and keeping your job. Choose your battles carefully. Not everything is worth fighting about. Employers resist the urge to become a parent or the moral police.
