世界正在变化，文化在不断发展，工作场所正变得性别混杂。当职场男女混杂在一起时，职场恋情就自然发生了。在工作场所的约会可以被描述为：“一个相互的关系，包括同一组织成员之间的吸引力”。职场恋情通常是因为工作时间的增加而产生的。职场恋情也源于人们与其他人有相同的背景、教育、经历、目标和灵感。根据Lickey的说法，“应对工作场所的浪漫作者：积极和务实的态度”主要有两种类型的在工作场所的约会：
Introduction:
The world is changing, cultures are evolving and workplaces are becoming mixed gendered. When genders are mixed in a workplace it is only natural for workplace romances to occur. Dating in the workplace can be described as: "A mutually desired relationship that includes physical attraction between two members of the same organization" (Lickey 122). Workplace romances usually occur because of the increased number of hours spent at work. Workplace romances are also due to the fact that people are working with others of the same background, education, experience, goals and inspirations. According to Lickey, the author of "Responding to Workplace Romance: a Proactive and Pragmatic Approach" (103) there are two main types of dating in the workplace:
Vertical (Peer to peer)
Hierarchal (manager to subordinate)
Some sources claim that a hierarchal romance should never occur (Lieber 113; Pierce 458), while other sources believe a hierarchal romance can become feasible under certain conditions (Lickey 103; Karl 433). Workplace romances are becoming more and more of an occurrence nowadays, and unfortunately companies are stuck in their legal centric-cost minded ways of dealing with them (Pierce 448). The goal of this research paper is to examine the risks and rewards of having a workplace romance and to come to an informed solution about whether or not a workplace romance is, or can become, feasible in a business setting.
What are the possible risks of dating in the workplace?
Dating in the workplace can have negative outcomes for the company such as: giving the company a bad reputation, increasing legal liabilities, possible sexual harassment lawsuits, decreased productivity, lowered job satisfaction, increased turnover rate, and increased costs. If a romance ends badly it may lead to fighting or arguments within the workplace, these arguments may be witnessed by co workers, managers, customers and may become gossip and topics of discussion within and outside the company. This may give the company a bad reputation among workers and customers. This problem may even cause investors to decide to put money into other companies because they find this one too risky and unstable (Pierce 448). Case study one in "Responding to Workplace Romance: A Proactive and Pragmatic Approach" (Lickey 107) shows that a workplace romance which ends badly can destroy a company's reputation, which consequently causes the entire organization to falter. Because of the bad reputation the company received, it caused investors and many current and future customers to invest elsewhere. All sources seem to agree that legal liabilities are the largest risk factor for dating in the workplace (Karl 432; Lickey 106; Pierce 453; Powell; Lieber 112). A person may sue for invasion of privacy, alienation of affection, wrongful discharge, or unfair treatment for having a workplace romance (Lickey 110). But the most expensive legal issue that sometimes results from a workplace romance is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be defined as "A crime that violates the inviolability of the private life of a person by way of pursuit (telephone calls, letters, stalking, etc.), bothersome pestering and unwanted advances; generally committed with sexual motives." (Stuchevskaia 67). There are two different types of sexual harassment:
"Quid pro quo": when a person is given unwanted sexual advances and the submission to, or rejection of, is used for employment purposes. (Willness 131)
"Hostile work environment": when a person is given unwanted attention that has the negative effect of disrupting the work habits or creating a hostile or fearful environment. (Willness 131)
Both of these types of sexual harassment are used in the workplace. The one difference between sexual harassment and work
