Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

outcomes in the workplace environment. People often think they can keep their romantic and
professional selves apart, but these distinctions can often become blurry and hard to separate.
Professional Outcomes
The second type of outcomes someone in a romantic workplace relationship may face are professional.
According to Robert Quinn, there is a range of professional outcomes that can occur when someone is
involved in a romantic relationship. 50 Quinn listed six basic outcomes someone people achieve professionally
as a result of engaging in a romantic workplace relationship: advancement, job security, increased
power, financial rewards, easier work, and job efficiency. Each of these professional outcomes is not
guaranteed, and depends on the nature of the romantic relationship and who the partner is. If someone’s
partner has more power within the organization, they can show more favoritism towards their romantic
power. In contrast, individuals on the same rung of the hierarchy, may not have the ability to create professional
advancement.
There is also the flipside to these professional outcomes. If a relationship starts to sour, someone
could see their career advancement slowed, less job security, less power in the workplace, etc. It’s in cases
where romantic relationships sour (especially between individuals at different rungs of an organization’s
hierarchy) when we start to see the real problems associated with romantic workplace relationships.
Organizational Outcomes
The final type of outcomes happens not directly to the individuals within a romantic workplace relationship,
but rather to the organization itself. Organizations face a wide range of possible outcomes that stem
from romantic workplace relationships. When romantic workplace relationships are going well, organizations
have members who are more satisfied, motivated, and committed. Of course, this all trickles over
into higher levels of productivity.
On the other hand, there are also negative outcomes that stem from romantic workplace
relationships. First, people who are in an intimate relationship with each other in the workplace are often
the subjects of extensive office gossip. 51 And this gossiping is time-consuming and can become a problem
for a wide range of organizational members. Second, individuals who are “dating their boss” can provoke
resentment by their peers if their peers perceive the boss as providing any kind of preferential treatment
for their significant other in the workplace. Furthermore, not all romantic workplace relationships are
going to turn out well. Many romantic workplace relationships will simply dissolve. Sometimes this
dissolution of the relationship is amicable, or both parties are satisfied with the breakup and can maintain
professionalism after the fact. Unfortunately, there are times when romantic workplace relationships
dissolve, and things can get a bit messy and unprofessional in the workplace. Although happy romantic
workplace relationships have many positive side-effects, negative romantic workplace relationships
can have the negative outcomes for an organization leading to a decrease in job satisfaction, employee
motivation, organizational commitment, and decreased productivity.
Many dissolutions of romantic workplace relationships could lead to formerly happy and productive
organizational members looking for new jobs away from the person they were dating. In other cases
(especially those involving people on different rungs of the organizational hierarchy), the organization
could face legal claims of sexual harassment. Many organizations know that this last outcome is a real
possibility, so they require any couple engaged in a romantic workplace relationship to enter into a
consensual relationship agreement or “love contract” (see Side Bar for a sample love contract). Other
organizations ban romantic workplace relationships completely, and people found violating the policy can
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