Chantal Gautier, Senior Lecturer on the Psychology and Counselling BSc Honours course, was interviewed on BBC Women’s Hour about the rules around workplace relationships.
After McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired for having a consensual relationship with a subordinate, Woman’s Hour was taking calls from the public about relationships at work. Gautier, as an expert in workplace romances, gave her perspective and gave advice to those calling in.
When asked about the rules of workplace relationships, Gautier said: “It’s a grey area. It really is difficult to kind of make it that black and white. Some organisations in the UK just outrightly ban workplace romances, in some organisations they put in some policies and others, they turn a blind eye. It’s very difficult.
“If you read through the contracts of any organisation I suppose it would be written there, whether or not you’re allowed to have a relationship in the workplace, but the question is: do people actually do that? Maybe now more and more people are doing that, but it’s still difficult. You can ask yourselves, do they have a right to ban workplace romances. After all, can we regulate who we fall in love with?”
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