Romance at the workplace: None of HR’s business, say professionals

Workplace romance seems natural since you spend most of your life at work, but it has as many red flags as red roses… and HR probably wants to know what's going on! While romantic relationships at offices aren’t against the law, certain behaviours could cross an ethical line.

People Matters rolled out a Valentine’s Day LinkedIn poll on Feb 14, 2022, to know working professionals' take on disclosing their workplace romances to HR. The poll drew an amazing response of over 2000 votes, and the outcome was strongly not in favour of HR knowing. 67% of working professionals responded that it's none of HR's business. Whereas, just 33% felt that HR needs to know.

We also collected some valuable insights from HR heads and senior leaders. Common reasons for feeling that HR shouldn’t be involved include:

• People are working adults and should be treated as such
• If company policy allows it, HR has no say
• HR is not in a position to properly use such information

On the other hand, some reasons for informing HR are:

• If a senior person is involved or there is other power imbalance
• Possible sexual harassment risks

Here are a few of the responses the poll received: