Saturday, February 27, 2010

Love thy Work(ers)

In the earlier posts we were seeing the different perspectives of Love contract.
In the case mentioned, 3 different approaches can be followed,
1. Summary Discharge policy
2. Non-fraternization policy
3. Love contracts

Summary Discharge policy says that if any manager enters into romantic relationship with subordinate will be summarily discharged. However, it seriously affects the morale of employees.
Non-fraternization policy prohibits romantic relationship among the employees and the consequence is generally transfer or reassignment of work. This is very difficult in today's world considering that employees tend to spend long hours in workplace and could develop relationships.
Hence, Love contract offers a middle path maintaining a balance between the aspirations of the employers and behavior of the employees. The Love contract is mutual consensual agreement between the employees enabling a restrictive behavior of the persons involved in sexual relationship.

Something is better than nothing
As Sushma pointed out, the Love contracts does NOT make the organization free from litigations but it definitely gives a solid defence in case any litigation is failed.

Relationship management in India
It was earlier mentioned that TCS, CSC and Max NewYork Life follow Love contracts. In fact, TCS had been paying Rs. 1 lakh for a couple and Infosys was offering a car for the newly wedded couples. While there are reports that some companies like NIIT go on extreme levels like offering "dating allowance" which is not acceptable on different grounds

A Win-Win Situation
From the employers' perspective, the contract helps in defending that there was no forced relationships and that the performance of the employees would not go down in case the relationship fails.
From the employees' perspective, the contract helps in constantly reminding them about their commitment to work and to the spouses(in case of married employees!). It also reminds them of appropriate behavior in workplace.
Like Varun mentioned, there is loss of privacy by signing this contract and there are also cases where one person may not sign the contract. But still Love contract holds good in managing workplace relationships considering all the above points mentioned.

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