December 30, 2010
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Working With Your Spouse
The organization I work for has a policy for family-member co-workers that basically says there is nothing wrong with family members working together as long as one is not a supervisor over the other. I imagine the intent is to reduce potential tension, perhaps a possible hostile working environment?
That may be a simplistic introduction to a complex idea; as with any thought regarding human interaction, the complexity is in the case-by-case nature of our differences. For instance, I imagine many out there would be just fine working alongside their spouse, yet for many others I can see that being a terrifying thought.
I tried to outline the disadvantages in this piece, and was reminded of the plight of two friends of mine, married, who worked together for a year. They said it was rough/weird spending literally nearly 24/7 together. They adjusted, of course, and are no longer in the same working situation, but it was interesting.
What do you think?
Could you work in the same office as your spouse (and if you’re not married, just consider it anyway)? Why or why not?
Comments (5)
I think the reasoning behind the idea that a family member can’t be a supervisor over another is because favoritism would be showed to that person. I used to work at the same company as my father, and I wasn’t allowed to work in his department.
I wanted to comment in the same direction as crazy2love. Mostly in the workplace the idea would be to avoid the opportunity for a person gaining an unfair advantage through the family relationship.
I am a roofer. My wife does not have the physical or mental fortitude to endure the intense heat, or cold, or heavy lifting I do. We work together just fine around the home though!
@crazy2love - @Zeal4living - Yeah, that makes sense. Reminds me of a case study we did back in college on a guy who was dating a girl he was supervising — and, in a situation where he had to select someone from his pool for his promotion, genuinely believed she was most deserving, but how could he promote her without everyone crying foul?
@Aloysius_son - Hey, I guess home teamwork is likely just as important!
I worked over the summer at a place that had this ruled laid down. However, my boss got around this by placing me in a superior position above her son (who was 17). Her son started lagging in work, and I, doing my job, had a polite word with him about work ethic. He ran to my boss and I was then scolded for doing my job. I had no problems with my boss outside of her son aside from a moment where she threatened to fire me because I asked for a day off (and was the only employee who hadn’t taken a day off). Her son WAS favored, which was unfortunate. I lost a lot of respect for her that day, but what can you do?
I feel like it all boils down to fairness on both ends. If there is a couple working in the same business, they wil be expected to be happy and professional at work in order to keep things running smoothly in the workplace, even if they just had their biggest fight to date the evening before. Everyone needs an escape.