Valentine’s Day: 5 benefits and drawbacks of finding love in your office

By Mohsin Abbas / The Santiago Times Staff

SANTIAGO, Chile — Emotions and conflicts are part of our work life, in which we generally get to know our coworkers closely and form links that eventually narrow.
In Chile, we spend about two thousand hours a year, 45 hours a week on average, at work. This is enough time to make friends, networks and why not, find love, although it can have consequences, both positive and negative.
On this Day of Love, the Laborum team has shared advantages and disadvantages of finding love in our office partner.

Advantages/Benefits

It improves the working environment as happiness of some ends up transferring to the office environment, which also benefits in productivity. A company that allows couples to collaborate is that does its part to have a friendly and understanding environment.

Counting with our partner as a co-worker encourages us to assist more with our jobs. There are many companies that encourage relationships among coworkers, since they naturally increase the interest in going to work, and with more energy.

The sense of belonging increases when having our partner next to us in the office, since we relate the progress of the company with that of our home. The feeling of belonging also increases because we know that in the office we have a close person who cares especially for us.

That our partner is both our colleague, makes me have much more understanding with our work, especially in areas that demand to be always attentive to contingencies, such as doctors and journalists.

A relationship that faces challenge every day, speaks of a couple that is capable of overcoming obstacles and working for a common goal, something that can benefit the achievement of goals at work level.

Disadvantage/Drawbacks

Having our partner in the office exposes our privacy to the permanent scrutiny of our co-workers. Therefore, and to avoid misunderstandings, it is always recommended to open up relationships before the rumors do their thing.

The discussions between partners within the company usually generate a tension in the rest of the team, which often also mean the transfer of private problems to the workplace.

Differences in charges may lead to deterioration of the organizational climate, since if our partner occupies a management position, any help or benefit can produce unnecessary friction or jealousy.

Confusing times and thinking that the space we occupy with our partner at work, can lead us to reduce the space of the necessary private life. Or the other way around: take time to work in leisure with our partner, which can directly impact productivity.