How To Avoid An Office Affair
Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010
by Mel Otero
http://www.recoverfromloss.com
Engaging in an office affair is high risk behavior that jeopardizes your career, your other relationships and your emotional health and, in extreme cases, your physical well-being. There are many important legitimate reasons to avoid an office affair and not one logical reason to start one. At the very least, it can be the death of a career and can leave your self-confidence and self-esteem in shambles.
Follow these tips as your "ounce of prevention":
1) Be sure you continuously work on your current relationship. If you are in a loving healthy relationship, be sure you nurture and value it. If you are single, look outside your job for a person that may lead to a loving healthy relationship. Take a class, go to a singles meeting at church, or ask friends for introductions to potential partners.
2) Set emotional boundaries and avoid discussing personal details with co-workers, especially those of the opposite sex. Remember that you are being paid by your employer to do a job and your personal life and professional life must remain separate. Your job is not the dating game!
3) Never agree to go out socially with an opposite sex co-worker, especially a boss, and never alone. This setting is an open invitation to potential problems and quite possibly the beginning of the end.
4) Avoid meetings or lunches alone with an opposite sex co-worker. Always try to include others in meetings or lunches.
5) Never drink alcohol or use drugs with co-workers, at any time not before, during or after the work day. Alcohol and drugs lower inhibitions and create fertile ground for intimate conversations and inappropriate behavior.
6) If you find yourself attracted to a co-worker, stop and re-read tips 1-5. If the attraction to the office charmer is overwhelming, consider a transfer to another department or start a job search for a new company. If you want to keep the job and avoid an affair but your personal willpower seems weak, seek professional counseling. If that sounds extreme, think about the possible consequences of an affair.
The consequences of an office affair lead us to the "pound of cure". Some possibilities:
1) Job termination
2) A sexual harassment lawsuit
3) Difficulty finding new employment
4) Loss of self-esteem and self-confidence
5) Need for professional counseling
6) Loss of current relationships that have or had meaning
No matter how attractive the person and no matter how exciting the idea of an affair, it is not worth the potential pain and loss to you and others affected by the office affair.
For more information on ROMANCE IN THE WORKPLACE and COPING WITH JOB LOSS
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