What constitutes a “no” in your world?

If you have the hots for a fellow employee, Facebook’s policy is this: you can only ask a colleague out once, and, if rebuffed, cannot ask them out again.

Pretty simple? Totally – and we like.

Replies along the lines of “I’m busy” or “I can’t that night” both constitute a “no”, meaning uninterested coworkers don’t have to spell out their rejection, reports Gizmodo:

In instances where someone does accept an invitation for a date, employees don’t necessarily have to tell HR about it, even if it involves disproportionate power dynamics.

But they do have to tell HR if there is a conflict of interest.

For all you who claim feminism is ruining romance, consider that constant nagging for attention is also a massive turn off.

Google has a similar policy which was implemented in 2004. It discourages relationships between employees that have a perceived imbalance of power. This, however, does not include a formality around how many times an employee can ask a coworker out at the company:

“[R]omantic relationships between co-workers can, depending on the work roles and respective positions of the co-workers involved, create an actual or apparent conflict of interest,” Google’s code of conduct states.

“If a romantic relationship does create an actual or apparent conflict, it may require changes to work arrangements or even the termination of employment of either or both individuals involved.”

But what of non-romantic networking? Well, there’s no clarity on what counts as “asking someone out”:

Anna Wood, who worked at Google for four years through 2015, told the Journal that she “didn’t know if people were asking me out or not,” noting that she had stumbled into dates unknowingly, believing them to be platonic drinks.

Awks.

At the end of the day, dating policies need to be outlined so employees can “respectfully navigate romance in the workplace without harassing a peer or jeopardising someone’s career”, especially in a world where organisations are grappling with systemic gender discrimination and sexual harassment issues.

And there’s no use in saying “no dating allowed”. People will just find a way around it, if the chemistry is strong enough.

[source:gizmodo]