Do I agree with the experts?
Yes, I agree with multiple points made Karen Firestone and Wendi S. Lazar. It’s unfortunate that Elizabeth is experiencing this situation at her company, which appears to be male-dominated with inappropriate behavior. I think, like mentioned by Karen and Wendi, Elizabeth should leave this place of work, when she feels ready and when a fitting opportunity comes by. She should not downgrade and should instead feel empowered to climb the ladder and negotiate what she deserves. I also agree that both Karen and Brad made a mistake by become invested emotionally with each other. They didn’t realize how this could impact their careers, which it seems that Karen is the one who is taking a majority of the fall.
If I was a manager, and found out about the situation, what would I do about this?
If it were Elizabeth’s manager in this situation, I would have had a conversation with Elizabeth and Brad early on in order to ensure that they are maintaining professionalism and boundaries in the workplace. I would not force them to break up their relationship. Then, I would put policies in place to set guidelines for future relationship, that include this one as well.
Given that Elizabeth is now in this situation, I would not have encouraged her to be a mentor to Claudia and instead would have tried to keep them separate so as to not create unnecessary tension in the workplace and lower the performance of the employees. For example, I would not have requsted that Claudia go shadow Elizabeth on this presentation, as there could be others well-suited for that instead of Claudia.
However, I would like to avoid having anyone be in this situation in the future, so strong policies and clear guidelines would be put into place.
