When it comes to romance and work, it is often said that never the two should twain. However, since it’s an unfortunate truth that most of us will spend more time at work than we do with our families and friends, office romances are almost certainly likely to happen whether we like it or not. If your hearts do collide and you are unable to distance yourself from the one who is making all the butterflies suddenly appear inside your stomach, there are some things you ought to do that will make the romance less likely to interfere with your job and avoid conflicts from airing embarrassingly in front of all of your coworkers.
Recognize The Importance Of Boundaries
All relationships demand a certain amount of respect when it comes to each other’s boundaries, without which could result in a severe deterioration. Boundaries must be respected, and it matters not how you met, whether that be via an online dating application or at work; when you are able to set your own boundaries and respect those of your partner, you will discover that things become far more harmonious than they otherwise might be. You can begin by being open and upfront with each other about just what your boundaries might be. This could be a complete separation between work and your personal life if you feel as though mixing the two could result in a tense atmosphere, to simply taking things slowly if you have only just met. When it comes to both the former and latter point, it’s very to allow your emotions to take control of the situation and run wild, but this can cause issues with your work (particularly if you allow certain aspects to spill over into your workplace), and possibly make the entire relationship feel a little overbearing if you move too fast. As such, setting such limits early will enable the romance to flourish and stay fresh while avoiding conflict early on.
Identify Your Work-Life Balance Needs
As your relationship begins to mature, you will start spending more and more time with your date, and without learning how to separate your work life and personal life, you run the risk of muddling it all together and strangling what ought to be a highly romantic case. To be most effective, it’s often best to think about how you will go about this process from an early stage. You will need to set aside time not only for your relationship to flourish outside of the confines of the office but also for yourself to decompress from work, as most people need to do. If you are dating someone from work, you will need to tread a fine line between including them and making them feel loved and disconnecting the work component from your everyday life. This will take a bit of trial and error, but as long as you’re both open to discussing things, you shouldn’t have any issues. In fact, doing so ought to make it easier for you to enjoy each other’s company both in the workspace and in your personal life.
Communicate Expectations With Your Partner
Things can become incredibly tricky if one of you is in a position that happens to be either superior or lower down than the other. Because most offices tend to be hierarchical places, this is almost bound to happen, and addressing this point early on will help alleviate a lot of potential headaches. Consequently, having a frank and honest discussion about how you will have to act at work and not favor your partner over others will save you a decent amount of stress and potentially your job if others know about your relationship and feel aggrieved as a result.
Schedule Dedicated Time For Work
Life is life and, unfortunately, involves the earning and use of money to survive, meaning that you might want to avoid doing anything that could result in your losing the way in which you earn your money. In reality, this shouldn’t be a problem as most couples will have to go to work throughout the day, and your relationship will be no different in this regard. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to let your other half know that when you need to work, you need to work, whether that’s in the office or bringing it home with you.
Designate Specific Times For Dating
While you must set boundaries for dedicated work time, you must also set aside plenty of time for romance and wooing and all of the things that couples do to strengthen their bonds with one another. To be perfectly clear, this ought not to occur during office hours for all of the reasons mentioned thus far, but as with all relationships and those that don’t happen between workmates, setting time for just the two of you is vital to cement your love and get to know each other more effectively.
Avoid Discussing Work During Dates
Work dates are a funny thing when compared with non-work dating in that, usually, when people date, there will be the inevitable mention of what they do and what they did on that particular day. This could be someone who annoyed them or something they did exceptionally well that deserves a shout-out. However, since you both will be in the same space all day, you will probably already know about much of the goings on. Therefore, it’s perhaps a thought to avoid bringing up anything work-related, unless that is, you both happen to particularly love your work and really want to discuss it. Just make sure that you don’t make your occupation the foundation of your relationship, as this can get old very quickly, and if you have nothing else to talk about, you will discover things get slightly staid over time.
Set Clear Communication Guidelines At Work
While it ought to be obvious, it bears mentioning that if you both value your jobs, it’s unwise to allow emotions or lust to spill over in the workplace. Doing so could jeopardize both of your careers and cause undue friction with your coworkers. Setting guidelines with each other regarding how you carry yourselves at work will go a long way in ensuring you avoid the worst of it and remain steadily employed.
It’s always a challenge when you fall head over heels for a colleague, but you don’t have to let a little thing like work stand in the way. By following clear boundaries and setting expectations, you can maintain a healthy relationship regardless of circumstance and keep the flame lit for as long as you both love one another.
