Love Contracts .... are we looking at a case of just another manifestation of contract or just a tweaking clause? Is such a contract going to redefine employment relations? Will it add a new dimension to employment relations – “emotions” along with the three others – time, qualification & wages? More so does this provide an opportunity at innovating with restrictive employment clauses? If we see the various forms in which such restrictions can take forms -are we looking at the days when employment contracts would coin down clauses over food habits [food menu preference clause - concern being difference in metabolism (due to variety of intake) that could affect workplace activities], thought processes [defining boundaries how much we can think, or even mandating intake of toned sedatives to think as desired in the contract], after office activities or vacation guidelines [leisure activity clause - concern being the fatigue factor can affect workplace performance]. Future contractual bargains would deal beyond the complexity of work related boundaries. Bargains would deal with how many colleagues one is allowed to be emotionally connected!!! Day won’t be far when performance appraisal, compensation norms would have another guiding factor – emotional connectedness. While earlier contracts focussed defining concrete measurable actions – regarding role and responsibility and defining boundaries of infringement, such “Love contracts” are spilling on to vague, intangible area of emotions, thoughts, feelings.
Although cases can be dealt as an aberration (being reel presentations) - Love Contracts can assume monstrous results as depicted in reel story in the movie Disclosure [1994]. This can also lead to contractual love – apriori employment norm as depicted in Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain [1999].
As human beings, emotional attachment is implicit; how can one leave aside emotions (or more so officially certify the boundaries of attachment at work place!) – When we unintentionally develop affinity for inanimate things like our wallet or cellphone – how can we be expected to work with ‘emotionally insulated connectedness’. ‘Why not employ android and robots who could as well perform the activities (thus algorithms can be written about the work flow and its variations) where human beings run the risk of thoughts going haywire, leading to complete digression from work?’ ‘Does such love contracts attempt to rationalize poor performance or lack of focus from work (for few ‘chosen’ ones) or does it attempt to embarrass employees by assuming that embarrassment would lead to more dedicated work hours?’. The “Love Contract” poses an intrigue – will Pritam only be penalised for under-performing under the contract purview or will he be rewarded as well (if we assume that he signs the contract) for performing beyond expectations – since he gains some insights regarding Jagruti’s activities through his intimacy and thus can leverage this opportunity to score few brownie points. Had they been married prior to their employment with the organization, no such question would have been raised - however unproductively they spent their efforts at office desk – thus implying that it the subjectively cultural prejudices that reflect on employment contract for certain organizations.
Although implicit, emotions never really figured as a factor to decide employment relations explicitly earlier. Rather than taking a confrontational stance as in the current case, organizations have also taken collaborative stances – Wipro encourages romantic liaisons among employees by acknowledging and promoting through its matrimonial. It is like professing the policy “if you shouldn’t take your home, bring your home to work” – through which you intend to have more time of the couples at the work place (although presence in workplace is ensured, devotion to work activities by couples can still be debated). Among professionals, lady doctors more often have their male peers as their life partners and they do pursue their professional careers without a hitch (they have the option of not being bound by any contracts though, and choose self employment, one of the reasons for lending them bargaining power). Although not sharing a common workplace, WAGs have been known to boost footballers’ performance through their emotional support off the field.
By making employees sign the contract compulsively, organization is overlooking the benefits of assuming a collaborative stance and thus ensuring employees’ confidence.
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