Culture

Love contracts do away with office PDA

by Rob Peters | May 26, 2008 at 10:14 am

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Office relationships are awkward for everyone involved, but now a trend in the States toward company love litigation is making sure they're even awkwarder.

Given that even a married couple have to be careful about how they behave at work, it's no surprise that some companies are asking employees to sign a "love contract" at the start of an office relationship.

A love contract is commonly used when one member of a couple is in a subordinate role to the other. The agreement aims to protect a company from a potential sexual harassment lawsuit while also laying down the law regarding public displays of affection and favouritism, both of which are proscribed. At the core of the agreement is an acknowledgment by both parties that they are entering into a consensual relationship.

Ms. Segal says her employer didn't use love contracts, but she had heard about them thanks to a brief mention on The Office.

"It seemed more like a joke," she says.

Not only are love contracts real, but recent coverage on Good Morning America and in publications such as Newsweek has turned them into the office trend of the moment in the United States.

Dr. Fritz says love contracts are a result of companies trying to manage workplace romances. She points to research conducted in 2001 that found 23 per cent of American companies asked employees to notify them if they were dating. By 2005, it had increased to 39 per cent.

In Canada, a survey published last year by career website Workopolis found that close to 20 per cent of working adults have been involved in an office romance. This statistic, combined with the recent rise in press coverage, suggests that the love contract could make its way to Canada.

By the numbers

22

Percentage of Canadians who

say their workplace has a policy against office romances.

35

Percentage who say there shouldn't be a rule against

dating colleagues.

92

Percentage of Canadians aged

18 to 24 who say there shouldn't be a rule against dating

colleagues.

45

Percentage of those Canadians who had an office romance who tried to keep it secret.

81

Percentage of Canadians aged

18 to 24 who had an office

romance and were open about it.