After watching the professional and personal fallout created by Good Morning America co-anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes’ workplace affair, it’s hard to imagine anyone thinking an office romance is a good idea — or that any employer wouldn’t have strict guidelines and guardrails in place to protect employees and the organization.
And yet: one-third of employees said they began or sustained a relationship with a colleague during the pandemic, according to a recent survey by SHRM. That’s up 6% since 2019. Despite the uptick, a report by online compliance training provider Traliant found that 27.4% of respondents said their employer has not defined its workplace misconduct policies, particularly for a hybrid or remote setting, in the case those relationships don’t work out.
