While relationships in the workplace may not seem like an issue at first glance, employers are encouraged to evaluate how to address these up front to avoid potential challenges in the future. The reason why creating a company policy is important is because it clarifies and reiterates expectations to ensure fairness and transparency within the organization.
It is ideal and best practice for these policies to require individuals on your team to disclose to HR whether they have a workplace relationship with another team member in case there are implications for your business as well as other employees.
For example, if left unchecked, employees who have an existing relationship with one another may exhibit behaviors such as favoritism, more lenient or hands-off management, or - if there is a fallout in the relationship - perceived or even inappropriate retaliation (e.g., poor performance reviews, etc.).
Some things to consider when crafting your policy include:
Who will the policy apply to - employees, business partners, vendors, others?
What types of relationships are considered under this policy?
How will you define a “relationship”?
What kind of actions might the company be committed to take to address a confirmed relationship? Is the company prepared to take these actions for everyone fairly across the company?
It is worth noting that there may be one-off scenarios such as when company co-founders happen to be siblings, but most if not all other workplace relationships should follow your company guidelines.