Office Romances, Blogging at Work, Become a Better Listener
Valentine’s Day: Office Romance Findings
According to the just-released 2007 Office Romance Survey by Vault, 17% of employees confess to being caught “trysting at work.” Vault published the latest findings on the office romance on Valentine’s Day. “Employees reported being discovered in the board room, engineering lab, stairwell, and office kitchen during their workplace rendezvous. Generally, employees consider office romances to be acceptable as long as they do not interfere with work and 42% have confessed to being involved in an office romance.” This year, Vault surveyed 550 employees and found:
- 47% report having had an office romance
- 48% hid their romance from everyone in the office
- 20% report meeting their spouse or long-term significant other at the office
- 19% have dated their boss or another subordinate
Only 16% of respondents were aware of office policies regarding workplace romance and 41% were not aware of any policies. One example of a clear office policy was to move one of the two to another department, position or location. Fifty-eight percent of management admitted to only interfering if it compromised work. I guess Rachel and Tag were in the 19% group.
Recommended Articles
- “Tips on Dating In the Workplace” by Sarah E. Needleman
- “Many Companies Look The Other Way at Employee Affairs” by Carol Hymowitz and Joann S. Lublin
- “Weighing the Stakes Of Dating Colleagues” by Adelle Waldman
- “Dealing With Workplace Affairs, And Other Office Dilemmas” by Sue Shellenbarger
- “Working With a Spouse Can Be Risky Business” by Jared Sandberg
Employees Blogging at Work
Business Week’s “When an Employee Blogs About Work - If it flies under the company radar, a blog can present significant legal risks. It can also benefit marketing and sales efforts. So what should you do?” by Karen E. Klein is targeted at employers. However, it also allows knowledge workers to understand what the business issues are so they can be more informed about blogging at work or about work.
What’s Not Appropriate?
Inappropriate employee blogging would be a “Leakage of company confidential or sensitive information; loss or misappropriation of trade secrets; defamation and privacy torts, trade libel; and possible infringement of intellectual-property rights involving copyright or trademark protections.” Knowledge workers, don’t blog about those things. Employers, Klein recommends the following steps if you find out about an employee blog:
- Research: “Take the time to look at the blog closely and figure out when it’s being written and why.” Before you talk to her or take any actions…find out whether she’s blogging on her work computer during company time or after-hours on her home computer… Also, generally accepted legal principles hold that every employee owes a “duty of loyalty” to her employer and that loyalty doesn’t disappear during evenings and weekends.”
- Review company policy: “By reading the blog, you should be able to determine whether its potential benefits outweigh the legal risks inherent in the medium. You should already have an employment policy in place that requires your employees to hold all proprietary and sensitive information of the company in confidence.”
- Give Examples: “If you determine that this blog may be beneficial to your company’s marketing and sales efforts, set some guidelines and rules about what’s acceptable communication by this employee and any others who take up the practice. Consult with your company’s attorney before taking any measures on this issue, especially any drastic action such as terminating an employee for blogging derogatory comments about your company or disclosing sensitive information.”
Check out Klein’s Q&A on the subject; it’s a great read.
4 Tips to Becoming A Better Listener
Business Week’s “Why Leadership Means Listening - Today’s employees want to be asked for feedback and they want to be heard. Here are four tips to help you become a better listener” by Carmine Gallo reminds us that being a leader also means listening. He offers the following tips on developing leadership listening skills:
- Fix your gaze: “When you speak to someone, maintain eye contact with that person. How many times have you been talking to someone who glances over your shoulder as if he is looking for someone more interesting? It doesn’t leave you with a positive impression, does it? Fix your gaze on the person speaking.” Think Bill Clinton.
- Ask questions in response to a question: “Just as eye contact makes people feel important, asking questions makes them feel as though their opinions count. In a business setting, ask questions that move the conversation forward and that give you another opportunity to listen to the speaker. And don’t interrupt when your question is being answered!”
- Incorporate feedback: “Great listeners solicit feedback and, more important, take action based on that feedback even if the action is as simple as responding in an e-mail.”
- Be available for the tough questions: “Invites tough questions instead of shrinking from them, they all have more respect for him.”
Actively listening takes practice,but listening to your direct reports for their question behind the question takes skill.
