Workplace relationships: the good, the bad, the Christmas parties
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What should you consider before starting a crush on a coworker?
The hookup with Hanna Reilly. Love and
honey.
On Triple J Warning Sex and Adult Thames. Hey there, Hannah here, back from holidays. Big thanks to Sarah McPhee for doing an amazing job while I was away. This week. Have you ever had a crush on someone that you work with? Almost every workplace has seen at least one romance or two, and for some people it's amazing. They might even meet their partner. But others have found themselves in super awkward situations or even getting fired. So what's the best way to have a workplace relationship? And do you need to call your boss immediately if you pash someone at the office Christmas party? Tonight we're gonna find out. But first, meet Ben. Ben didn't really know how to go about making a move in the office, so he came up with a pretty creative solution to speak to his workplace hottie.
Well the girlfriend I'm currently with now, we actually met at work. She was the receptionist. I kind of liked her, but I I didn't get to talk to her that much because I was new at work and I didn't want to be seen, you know, being lazy and talking to, you know, the receptionist. So I used to create reasons to go to the front desk. I used to go out and get some envelopes because they were kept at reception. And then while I was there, I'd talk to her for like five or ten minutes. I would take the envelopes back to my desk and then when she wasn't at the front desk I'd put all those envelopes back. I told her about it probably a year into our relationship and she said I always wondered why you were getting envelopes.
We started going out and we didn't really tell any anyone at work. We were very careful.
How can a creative “envelope” strategy help you talk to a workplace crush?
Sometimes there'd be the occasional like kiss in the hallway, or like she would like pinch my ass or something like that, like out of the blue. But I felt like there was always a thorough check uh in the area around us of like is anyone here, is anyone watching us? There was even a time where I tried to kiss her and And she kind of hesitated and pulled back because there was a security camera near us, and like sh there was some weird part in her brain where she thought like someone would be going through the security footage. Yeah, it was probably a year or a year and a half into the relationship that I kind of told my boss and she's like, Oh, when did this start? I was like, Oh, it probably started a year ago.
I don't know why I thought that they would be angry, you know, that we were going out, but instead she was very surprised. supportive. Everyone was very protective of her, so it felt like it was an office full of parents that were like, you know, don't break her heart. So that was a really weird dynamic. It was kind of like Meeting 30 parents at once. The hookup
with Hannah Riley on Triple J. How would you feel about your boss knowing the intimate details of your love life? We might think that workplaces have no business at all in our business, but that's not necessarily true. It's quite complicated from both sides. Work can be a great place to meet someone, but dating at work can also get very messy. So to help us sort through the paperwork, we are joined by James Adonis. He's a business columnist with a fair Fax, who writes extensively about how businesses deal with workplace romance. And also we're joined by Dr. Sarah Kane. She's an associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney. She lectures in human resources management and industrial relations.
Welcome guys. Thanks to coming into the hookup.
Thank you.
When do workplace policies require you to disclose a romantic relationship?
Good evening. Thank you.
Now, I'd probably say that work is a pretty good place to meet people that you're interested in because usually you already have something in common. Is dating in the workplace always a good idea?
It depends, I think, on the culture within the organization. Right. So there are some organizations that totally condone it and others that explicitly um Prohibit it. So the the the c the prevailing culture definitely has an influence.
Sarah, you're teaching the bosses of tomorrow. What's the thinking around how officers handle workplace relationships today?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What should you consider before starting a crush on a coworker?
0:00–1:49
2
How can a creative “envelope” strategy help you talk to a workplace crush?
1:49–3:35
3
When do workplace policies require you to disclose a romantic relationship?
3:35–5:29
4
What real‑world pitfalls did James experience in his six‑month office romance?
5:29–7:29
5
How do power imbalances and conflicts of interest affect workplace relationships?
7:29–9:18
6
What happened when Nick dated his boss and the company terminated their contracts?
9:18–11:42
7
How did a Navy trainee secretly manage a forbidden relationship on base?
11:42–13:20
8
What are the best tips for asking a coworker out without crossing professional boundaries?
13:20–15:12