I agree with the first expert more than the second one. I disagree with Wendi S. Lazar on the idea that Elizabeth is not in a state to be making a life-changing decision or leave gracefully because her life-changing decision already happened – she dated a C-Suite executive within her startup. Additionally, given the antagonization and flaunting from Brandon and Claudia, the graceful exit is out of Elizabeth’s hands already and thus is a negligible factor in whether or not she should leave.
If I were a manager and found out about the situation, I would recognize that we are about to lose a unique employee with a very specialized skillset, foundational business-specific knowledge, and strong relationships with customers. C-Suite executives have a generally available set of skills and tend to position hop between companies as protocol, so I would prefer to implement stronger non-fraternization policies. I would also introduce a shift in office culture starting from HR to address how the men in Elizabeth’s sales department had previously brought personal life into the office by heckling Elizabeth about her private outing with Brandon, with accountability measures for those who continued creating a hostile work environment on the basis of non-work affairs. I would further address how Claudia brought up, again, a non-work affair about her and Brandon’s engagement in an office setting. This was something that could easily be communicated in an out-of-office meeting or chat.
As a final step, I would take a note of Brad’s track record of seeking office romance with younger female employees.
