As you are no doubt aware, there is a football competition to be held in South Africa this summer whereby it is extremely important that England are on top form. England’s manager, Fabio Capello, took the decision that John Terry could no longer  be England captain after his behaviour off the pitch. Dressing room bust ups and divisions amongst the team were no doubt at the forefront of Capello’s mind when he took the difficult decision.

So how would a scenario like this pan out in the office?

It is worth looking at a few scenarios:

 
A manager has an affair with a junior employee

The first thing to do is to investigate the situation to determine the extent of the problem. For example, if the manager is in charge of carrying out the junior employee’s appraisal then there is an obvious issue and the company would need to consider whether anyone else could carry out the appraisal. What is the impact on the rest of the team? Are there morale issues as a result of the affair? Accusations of favouritism? It may be appropriate to have an informal chat initially with those involved and to make it clear that it is important to maintain professionalism in the office. Explain the concerns that the company may have.

After investigation, if it becomes obvious that there is no solution to the parties working together then it may be appropriate to move one of the employees. It should not automatically be assumed that the more junior employee should be moved. There must be objective business reasons for moving the employee in order to reduce the chance of any discrimination allegations (for example, age, sex discrimination).

 
An employee has an affair with an employee from another department

This situation is usually less complicated and can be resolved quite easily. In most situations where there is a ‘cross-office affair’ it will not be necessary for the employer to get involved. However, if there is a concern that there is going to be an impact on the business then it may be appropriate to have an informal chat with the employees to remind them that professional behaviour is expected in the office.

Essentially the question to ask is what will be the effect on the business? How involved are the two departments? Would there be any negative impact on the business?