In the case study of the office romance gone wrong, Elizabeth is distressed because her former office lover has moved on from her to a younger colleague, which has increased tensions in the office and impacted her worklife. The new couple flaunts their relationship, with no real support from the HR department, and Elizabeth is tasked to work with the two of them despite their personal problems.
Karen Firestone argues that Elizabeth should seek employment elsewhere. Firestone cites that the current work environment is toxic, chauvinistic, and wastes her potential and talent dealing with this environment.
Wendi Lazar argues that Elizabeth should stick it out and stay for her efforts to bear fruit in stock and compensation.
Both Firestone and Lazar state that Elizabeth should seek to keep her personal life and career separate, citing that her emotions are interfering with her work and they both advocate for future separation of these two spheres.
Both experts provide reasonable takes on the matter. I strongly agree that personal matters should be kept out of a career, and while they can often be inevitable, Elizabeth should have sought the foresight to see that she was too invested in office romance and politics. Regardless, Elizabeth’s personal problems will be solved when she is distant from the couple, best done by either transferring or seeking alternative employment. However, she can still preserve her career. I would concur with Lazar in that she should strategically stick it out and seek an opportunity to find other careers in the meantime. I recognize Firestone’s thoughts on the employment place in general – I believe a happy medium between the two expert opinions is best.
Elizabeth should stay for the time being, as her thoughts are clouded emotionally. She is valuable in her current position, but is training the younger colleague to practically replace her. She should seek employment with competitors and then leave her employment when the time is right. The company will either pay a premium to retain her, or suffer the loss of her employment in a critical position.
If I was in the position of the manager I would take a more neutral stance in that strongly discouraging all office-romance. PDA is distracting to the workplace, and enforcing that would ensure that Elizabeth is not harassed during her time at work all the while allowing the couple their freedom to personal affairs outside of work. Additionally, I would evaluate the need for the younger colleague is essential at the conference, as it seems like she is attending out of convenience for Brad. As a work affair, she should not be present if she is not relevant. I would limit all interactions between them, unless needed.
It would also be good to see if Brad is abusing his power, as he was in two office romances. He should be sat down that his behavior is unprofessional and should keep his personal affairs out of the office.
