Dear Aunty B,
Two of my colleagues are having an affair (one is married), and it starting to affect me and the other employees.
Normally, I wouldn’t care – what they do on their time is none of my business. The problem is, it’s not in their time. They’ve been taking breaks at the same time, staying beyond the allotted time, and doing so when we are really busy and definitely notice their absence.
Should I tell them to keep their canoodling off work premises?
From: No Sex Please
Dear No Sex Please,
Office relationships are tricky at the best of times, let alone a suspected affair.
Generally speaking, what people do in their own time is their own business. But this is clearly a pickle because the relationship is affecting your work and the work of others. They either need to stop slacking off or quit the canoodling.
If you are the boss, you need to pull them aside one-on-one and tell them their absences have been affecting their performance.
If you aren’t the boss, then maybe bring this up with your manager and let them know you feel as though your colleagues aren’t pulling their weight. If their behaviour is as obvious as you say it is, I’m sure or boss has noticed.
However, this advice supposes your company doesn’t have a policy forbidding co-workers from dating one another. If this is the case, then maybe have a chat to HR sooner rather than later. This is what this general manager recommends and it sounds like she’s speaking from experience.
Stay smart,
Aunty B
I’m SmartCompany’s resident Agony Aunt. Have a problem to solve? Just ask. @IamAuntyB #AuntyB
