Love is all around us in the workplace: But how does it affect the romantically involved?

Abstract

Purpose

The paper examines relationships in the workplace. It considers issues such as employee engagement, decisions to be in a relationship with a co-worker and its effects on commitment certainty in a sample of adults. They all said they were currently working with their romantic partner.

Design/methodology/approach

Bearing in mind that workplace romance can be a taboo topic, the researchers recruited participants anonymously from online social media websites.

Findings

Some participants said that they were motivated to be in a romantic relationship with a co-worker to increase status. They tended to report lower levels of engagement. However, when relationships hit a tricky patch and/or they felt uncertainty about the relationship, these participants tended to commit themselves more, rather than less to their work.

Originality/value

This is the first study to examine the influence of workplace romantic relationships in the context of employee engagement. It also documents links between workplace relationships and performance variables.

Citation

Wheatcroft, J. (2016), "Love is all around us in the workplace: But how does it affect the romantically involved?", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 21-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-05-2016-0079