It was recently revealed that ITV has asked employees to disclose any close relationships, including friendships, to managers. Relationship at work policies are not new, but does this take things a step too far in terms of legality and practicality?
Should colleagues declare if they have a close relationship at work? According to a report last month in the Sunday Times, broadcaster ITV has asked staff to make managers aware of any relationships they have with other members of staff.
The new rules state that “if a personal relationship exists between you and another colleague (whether it started prior to or during the course of your employment or engagement with ITV), both parties must disclose this to the company at the earliest opportunity”.
Relationships are defined as “a close connection, such as a partner or significant other”; “a person living in the same household” and “anyone involved in a sexual, romantic or close relationship, or friendship”. Anyone who fails to disclose such information could face disciplinary action and potentially dismissal, it adds.
Relationships at work
The email sent to staff followed a tumultuous few months for the company. Earlier this year, This Morning presenter Philip Schofield left ITV after admitting to bosses that he had lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a much younger colleague.
ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall then appeared before the Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee in June after additional allegations emerged that there was a wider toxic working culture at the programme.
According to sources quoted in the Sunday Times, staff believe the edict is “a step too far”, and numerous employment experts have questioned the legality and practicality of collecting vast amounts of information on employees’ connections in the office.
Forewarned and forearmed?
What impact might introducing a workplace relationships policy have in practice? At a push, it could be argued that the company is protecting itself – forewarned is forearmed after all – as the Worker Protection Bill comes into force next year.
The legislation will require employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment against employees. But Tina Chandler, head of employment at law firm Wright Hassall, says having a record of someone’s close relationship with a colleague would never amount to a “100% defence”.
“Disclosing a relationship does not diminish someone feeling harassed,” she says. “It’s also very unlikely you’ll cover all possible relationships. No-one is going to disclose an affair, for example.”
Equally, threatening employees with any form of disciplinary action or worse sanctions such as dismissal could leave an organisation open to legal challenges, particularly as “close relationship or friendship” is a loose and subjective definition.
Chandler adds: “What are we saying the impact of not disclosing a relationship is? If someone ends up with a grievance or dismissal, that is not really in the range of reasonable responses. My first question to clients seeking to establish a relationships at work policy is, what are you trying to achieve?”
Conflicts of interest
That said, Hina Belitz, partner at Excello Law, says disclosure could protect against conflicts of interest. “Although many workplace relationships do not cause problems for employers, they can pose risks, especially where the participants are in unequal positions of power or work closely together,” she explains.
Keeping records for no reason could end up being a data protection nightmare.” – Tina Chandler, Wright Hassall
“Employers need to be able to monitor the risks of unfair advantage, favouritism, and untoward behaviour, which can include harassment, discrimination, and bias in areas like promotion or disciplinary proceedings. Employers also have a duty of care towards employees in relation to mental health, which may be easier to fulfil with this information at hand.”
Defining what a relationship is – beyond the short description offered to staff via email – will be crucial to how the policy is interpreted, she adds.
“Given that social boundaries are often blurred, and given that social relationships change over time, there is a risk that any definition will be either too vague for anyone to comply or overinclusive and therefore overzealous,” says Belitz.
“This is especially the case if employers, like ITV, choose to include friendships as well as romantic relationships in their policies. The question of who sees such data and how well it is protected is huge – many people will want this information to remain private and employers will need appropriate procedures in place to protect it.” If action is taken, there is also potential for discrimination if people are treated differently, she advises.
“There is also the concern about the right a person has to privacy. In cases I have handled, some of the searching questions about the nature of a relationship seem to go too far,” she adds.
“It leaves open the question of the appropriateness of that much probing into someone’s personal life – getting into detail concerning whether, for example, the relationship was ‘sexual’ in nature does seem excessive and, in many cases, simply wrong.”
Data protection
Considering the potential data protection issues, clarity on the purpose of such a policy is one of the first things ITV or another employer would need to establish, adds Chandler.
“Keeping records for no reason could end up being a data protection nightmare. You need to make clear, what is the purpose for collection? It lacks definition at the moment – I have friends I see at work all the time but don’t want to see at the weekend.”
The benchmark an employer uses for a close relationship, and the point at which it declares it to become problematic, could also prove contentious, says Belitz:
“A further concern is the question of why the same standards are not applied to other forms of relationship that can lead to a conflict or bias such as ‘drinking mates’ or ‘pub buddies’ in classic financial service environments.
“In my experience and in case law involving discrimination, it is often the exclusion or side-lining of the woman because she doesn’t go drinking with the guys that forms the basis of a claim. A good question is therefore why these ‘relationships’ are not held to the same level of scrutiny.””
Collaboration culture
Arguably, the policy could end up diluting some of the positive side effects of friendships at work.
According to Gallup, having a ‘best friend’ at work contributes to a thriving employee experience and to better communication and commitment – even more so since the pandemic.
Its research found that employees who have a close friend at work were “significantly more likely to” engage with customers and partners, get more done in less time, support a safe workplace with fewer accidents, share ideas and have fun.
The percentage of employees who said they were extremely satisfied at work and who also had a workplace best friend was 32% in 2022.
Claudia Gard, co-founder of female friendship app gofrendly, points out that many of us spend more hours at work than we do with other friends and family, so restricting whether people are friendly with colleagues could backfire.
People are adults, they should be responsible for their own relationships.” – Claudia Gard, gofrendly
“If you think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, social connections are the next thing after basic food and shelter. We spend eight to 10 hours a day at work and have connections with those people,” she says.
“People are adults, they should be responsible for their own relationships as long as they are performing as they should.”
Setting boundaries
That said, there could be times where a close relationship crosses a boundary and confidential information is shared; decisions are more likely to be made through ‘groupthink’ or it becomes more difficult to solve conflict as both parties are over-invested.
Ulrika Lijia, gofrendly’s other co-founder, adds: “As long as friendships don’t become cliques or there is conflict, they are part of your social network and are an important part of your workplace culture. If they do step over the line, then as managers we step in.”
Ultimately, it’s up to employers to support workers’ personal choice and foster a culture where being friendly with one another adds value, rather than creates problems.
“So many employees leave organisations because they’re unhappy with the culture,” adds Chandler. “We spend so much time at work that compelling people to tell managers about relationships or they’ll be disciplined is like a hammer to the head – it’s fair to know, but not to police.”
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