Moral Issues About Dating Coworkers

Interpersonal relationships play a critical role in daily workplace operation; without the ability to create rapport, employees may not establish strong communication. Given how much time people spend in the workplace, it's easy to understand the lure of dating coworkers; when those working relationships cross over into office romances, however, the moral component of such intimate interaction comes into play.

Policy
The desire to curb romances with a no-dating policy has increased with the growing awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace. This heightened awareness aside, companies are not jumping on the no-dating bandwagon as much as it might seem; just 12 percent of survey respondents in 2003 implemented such a policy, according to the American Management Association (AMA), with the majority specifically prohibiting morally questionable boss/employee fraternizing. Even with such a rule in place, there may be little legal power to enforce it if the state considers it privacy infringement. To sidestep this possibility, employers can impose an ethics code that more solidly supports the company's stance.

Hostile Work Environment
The ethical components of an office affair can impact other employees if it's known that one or both workers are cheating on their spouses with another staff member. The workplace can also turn hostile once the affair is over and the one-time lovers are not emotionally capable of working in the same space. Moreover, the burden of liability may fall upon the employer if one of the romantic pair files a harassment complaint that's not immediately addressed and rectified.

Turning a Blind Eye
While employers may not be happy with knowing their subordinates are fraternizing, they may respect the couple's privacy as long as the relationship does not detrimentally impact either employee's job performance. Should such concerns as favoritism from one toward the other, arguing in the office or decline in productivity arise, the boss has reason to step in.

Legal Aspects
What employees do on their own time is beyond the scope of workplace policy; however, once the relationship spills over into office space, the amorous coworkers cross a line that takes them into more legally stringent territory. For example, if they exchange personal and/or intimate messages while using a department computer on company time, the employer is within rights to take action as long as an electronic messaging policy is in place.

Originally written for and published by Demand Media
Photo credit: Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

Sexual Proclivity and Social Norms

The term immediately sets jaws on edge and causes people to avert their eyes from the person who gives voice to such a scandalous concept. Sadomasochism is so inextricably connected to the fringe element that few people want to admit knowing many details of this sexual fetish for fear they will also be labeled as 'abnormal.' The entire topic of sex, after all, is still taboo for much of the global society, with people typically conversing about it within very finite social boundaries. When the discussion drifts toward sadomasochism, involuntary gasps of disgust illustrate how sexual subcultures are still far from being readily accepted. Unconventionality notwithstanding, the S&M community represents a sexual pleasure source that's both rich in history and quite prevalent in contemporary society.

Those who fixate on the sexual deviation of sadomasochism fail to realize -- or care about –- its historical ideology. Timothy Taylor's The Prehistory of Sex: Four Million Years of Human Sexual Culture points to traces of S&M going far back into man's history; based upon the sexual preferences of two European aristocratic writers -- Marquis De Sade and Sacher-Masoch -- the erotic adventures conjured up in their imaginations and reality revolved around the concept of pleasurable pain. Sadists, who are partial to inflicting pain, bring pleasure to masochists whose preference is to receive it. This yin-yang relationship is both a representation of social subculture and a realistic view of how, despite convention, humans are fluid in their sexual proclivity.

To be unique within a world of sameness is a quest sought by many; however, it is the quickest way to become labeled a deviant. This negative connotation of individualism -– which is to maintain independence from the norm –- has cast an even darker meaning for those who embrace nonconforming sexual expression. Indeed, prejudices are shouldered by those who refuse to let people make their own life choices, so the bottom line is to keep your eyes on your own paper and don't be concerned with what or how others are scribbling on theirs.