Consensual Relationship Agreements Workplace romance or affairs are likely to happen since individuals with general interests are put together for more than 40 hours per week. Based on the findings of a survey, approximately 47% of 1,000 professionals had been engaged in office romance with 11% of them dating their managers or assistant managers. As a result of the likelihood of affairs in the workplace, managers should generally accept the possibility of office romance and institute policies and ways of addressing it when it takes place. Actually, efforts to prohibit workplace romance tend to be futile and counter-productive since employees are likely to date for the thrill of it when such efforts are implemented. Despite of the likelihood of workplace romance to occur, many companies and organization do not have policies and procedures to govern it. One of the major ways for dealing with this aspect is adopting a consensual relationship agreement, which is a written contract. The contract includes various elements include the relationship being voluntary and consensual, avoiding potentially offending behaviors, and agreement not to engage in favoritism.

Use of Consensual Relationship Agreements:

Today's workplace environment has usually been described as a place where people meet and learn about each other. The proximity of these individuals when conducting their work activities sometimes contribute to attraction and romance. Attraction and romance may in turn result in charges of sexual harassment, loss of organizational productivity, likelihood of infringement of privacy, workplace violence, and views of employee favoritism (Lickey, Berry & Whelan-Berry, 2009). As many people spend more time...

However, employees involved in office romance should ensure that their relationship does not affect their job performance and other workers.
In my future workplace, the use of consensual relationship agreements will be appropriate in helping the management to institute policies and procedures that govern office romance. While the management may absolutely agree that workplace romance is none of its business, it can realistically acknowledge that establishing policies and procedures that govern it is beneficial to the organization. The use of consensual relationship agreements in my future workplace will originate from various reasons including its proactive and pragmatic approach, inefficiency of preventing workplace romance, and its effectiveness. Attempts to stop office romance or sexual relationships in the workplace are not only futile but they are also likely to push the relationship underground and create more legal complications, especially if the romance ends harshly. Therefore, using CRAs will provide the organization with the ability to prove that the employees engaged in the relationship voluntary and it was consensual.

The agreements provide a proactive and pragmatic approach for the management to protect the workers in the relationship and the organization itself. To the employees involved in the relationship, CRAs give them peace of mind that contributes to high motivation and increased productivity. To the organization, these agreements provide the management with proof during any sexual harassment lawsuits that may occur. It enables the organization to lessen concerns regarding workplace discrimination, favoritism, unethical behaviors, and sexual harassment. Therefore, these contracts are effective in governing office romance because create a platform to discuss professional behavior in the working environment and remind the dating workers of the lack of workplace privacy. While a consensual relationship agreement is an important tool in controlling sexual harassment claims and lawsuits, it must be carefully developed and implemented with care (Sutton, 1999). This is mainly because the failure to thoughtfully consider their creation and implementation can result in inefficiency.

Counter Argument against the Use of CRAs:

The benefits and potential positive outcomes of the use of consensual relationship agreements make…