NAN-ELS-9
Office
By Justina David Auta
Abuja, Nov. 7, 2016 (NAN) Some workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Monday
gave varying reasons why romantic relationships between colleagues within same organisation should be discouraged.
The workers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that relationships between colleagues would reduce the productivity of the persons involved.
However, some others were of the opinion that rather than reduce the output of the persons
involved, it would increase their performance and would be beneficial to organisations.
Mr Gabriel Idoko, a civil servant, said the office environment was not a conducive environment for
any romantic relationship as it would affect the performance of the persons involved negatively.
He added that “office environment should be strictly for work and any relationship that emanates from there should be cordial relationship between colleagues.
“When people start engaging in romantic relationships in a working environment, it would definitely affect their performance because whenever they have unresolved issues, they might transfer the anger to inappropriate persons in the office.”
He explained that there were instances where relationships between colleagues went sour which
led to embarrassing behaviour by couples within the office environment.
“There have been instances where some of these couples transfer their unresolved problems to the office, leading to fight and quarrel in the office.”
Also, Mrs Cecilia Sunday, a civil servant, said relationships between colleagues should be devoid of any romance so as to avoid any unwanted sexual harassment.
Sunday said “relationships between workers should be simply platonic without any romantic feelings so as to avoid any case of unwanted sexual advances, molestation and even rape.’’
She recalled cases of romantic relationships that went bad among workers, which she said led to lawsuits and termination of appointments.
However, Mrs Hannatu Musa, a worker, said romantic relationships between colleagues could
improve their productivity, as well as be beneficial to the organisations where they work.
She said that the two could put heads together and work toward improving their job, “especially if they are married; they can discuss their job even when they are at home.”
Similarly, Mr Friday Olusegun, another civil servant in Abuja, said relationships between colleagues would not affect their performance, especially if they were stationed in different offices within the same organisation.
He said “there is no harm if colleagues get involved in a relationship, which I feel would not affect their input in the organisation, especially if stationed in different offices or departments within the same organisation.
“There are couples who work in same organisation and that has not affected their performance at work.” (NAN)
JAD/HA
=======
Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu