Roving eye at work?

kw: dating, work, policy

I just got an e-mail from Monster.com that refers to this article about office romances. The title in the e-mail was "Office romance: Five reasons not". From a practical point of view, dating or marrying a co-worker, one who is in the same administrative unit, is forbidden by all large and most smaller corporations. Why? To avoid conflict of interest. A romance that a couple tries to keep hidden, when it is found out, will result in this choice: one of you quit, or end the relationship.

There is a second reason office affairs are proscribed. A person with poor self-control is an inferior worker. Over the years, I've known several people who were fired for this reason. Their managers were unhappy with mediocre performance to start with, and the romance simply gave them cause for termination.

I do have colleagues who dated and married, but they were in different organizations, and they both talked to their management before letting the relationship get too far. Since no affair can be kept secret for long, daylight is the best option.