Working side by side on a common cause day in, and day out, it’s no surprise that co-workers sometimes become intimately involved in the cannabis industry. One in three U.S. adults is or has been in a workplace romance.
Sometimes those pairings lead to happily ever after – a CareerBuilder survey of 809 working adults in the U.S. found that 31 percent of office romances resulted in marriage. But not all relationships that begin in the office fare well. While many workplace romances are perfectly acceptable, there are instances when intimate relationships are out of bounds, such as when there is a power imbalance.
CareerBuilder found that 35 percent of female workers had dated someone at a higher professional level than themselves, and 27 percent dated their boss. Among men, 25 percent dated someone at a higher level than themselves, and 16 percent dated their boss.
That creates the potential for intimidation, retaliation, or sexual harassment claims, as well as real or perceived favoritism. There can be other consequences too, for an employer – 9 percent of women and 3 percent of men left a job after a relationship went sour, CareerBuilder found.
Valentine’s Day is a good time for employers to look at their cannabis industry policies and make sure they are doing all they can to provide a safe environment for cannabis industry employees where unwanted sexual advances are prohibited. That includes focusing on bystander cannabis dispensary training to recognize, report, and prevent harassment in the workplace, including harassment via social media.
Some organizations, like Facebook, have a “no means no” policy that prohibits one (1) worker from asking another out again if the co-worker has already said no once before. While the company does not prohibit dating among workers, it says it wants an environment where no one has to worry about avoiding unwanted invitations or unwelcome flirting.
Among the 1,010 workers surveyed, 17 percent who never had a workplace romance refrained from pursuing one because they were concerned about potential sexual-harassment claims, with more men than women stating this.
Employers generally are liable for not taking prompt and remedial action to address a hostile work environment resulting from co-workers’ sexual involvement and when employees are subjected to coercive sexual conduct by their supervisors.
The best way for employers to handle cannabis industry workplace relationships is to hope for celibacy but prepare for intimacy among employees.
Importance of Disclosure
While employers can deter workplace romances by adopting and enforcing anti-fraternization policies, they also should realize that zero-tolerance policies are unrealistic.
For this reason, some organizations now opt for dating policies or ‘love contracts’ that set out a clear code of conduct and require cannabis industry employees to disclose their status as a couple to HR.
Employees should be encouraged to disclose relationships because this is the most effective way to limit the potential for favoritism, retaliation, and sexual harassment claims. While disclosure may result in the employer’s changing the roles or departments of one or both parties, the employer may simply make cannabis dispensary communication clear that the parties are not to let their relationship affect their work.
However, nearly one-third (28 percent) of employees involved in a workplace romance never disclosed it. Among those who did come clean, 32 percent said their company was supportive, and 29 percent said the employer was neither supportive nor unsupportive.
Neglecting to disclose an intimate work relationship to HR when the employer requires it, could have dire consequences that could include a reprimand or termination for violating company policy.
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