Should married couples work together in the same company? There seems to be no clear answer as companies take different stances, even as global statistics show a growing trend in romantic relationships, with 43 percent of respondents in a recent survey saying they married someone they worked with.

With little time outside work to nurture romantic interests and the desire for a shared experience, the survey showed employees are increasingly looking at the workplace pool for long-term companions.

And companies are slowly acknowledging the inevitability. In Kenya, KCB Group, Old Mutual and Absa Bank allow married couples to work together so long as neither supervises the other.

“If you reflect on the African tradition, people married people they knew. You never went out and got a stranger to come into the community. So, if we are working on a project every day, it’s possible that is where I will find somebody that I really like, and we can start dating. So we don’t discourage,” says Mumbi Kahindo, the People and Culture Director at Absa Bank Kenya.

“We have no policies to say you cannot marry your peer, but there are conditions because we don’t want family issues brought into the office.”

Mumbi Kahindo, the People and Culture Director at Absa Bank Kenya.

Photo credit: Pool

The conditions, Ms Mumbi says include disclosing to the human resource department as soon as the couple realise they are working on a long-term commitment and ensuring they are not in the same reporting line.

“But we also ask that if one of you is senior to the other, you can’t report in the same structure. So, we then ask, how do we change the role, change the person out of your structure? One of them - it can be the woman is more senior than the man, and I have seen those cases,-has to move,” says Ms Mumbi.

Romance-driven performance

Dr Ben Chumo, chairman EagleHR Consultants and former CEO of Kenya Power, holds that romantic relationships do not affect performance.

He cautions that discouraging coupling at the workplace results in employees dating and living together secretly without formalising their relationship, which denies them the security of a formal marriage. It also denies them some employment benefits, especially on insurance policies and perks offered to employees who marry outsiders.

“I know in some banks up to now, that is the rule rather than the exception. You cannot work together if you get married, one of you must leave. That philosophy was meant to maintain objectivity, and minimise chances of collusion,” says Dr Chumo.

Dr Ben Chumo, chairman EagleHR Consultants and former CEO of Kenya Power.

Photo credit: Pool

He, however, notes the fear regarding collusion among couples is unfounded as friends can also collude, even enemies who stand to benefit from a partnership.

“It is an imaginary situation. I mean, people can collude; they don’t have to be married. I think stigmatising marriage in the workplace is a very unfair policy,” says Dr Chumo.

He adds that married couples bring stability in the company as they share resources, easing financial burden, which allows for faster growth.

Gross misconduct or discrimination?

While most companies say couples should disclose their relationship, some are silent on what happens after disclosure. Mentor Sacco Society’s human resource policy, which discourages romantic relationships, was recently cited in a court hearing following the dismissal of a couple in January 2023 for gross misconduct.

“To reduce conflict and distraction at the workplace, the Sacco discourages romantic relationships between employees and the board of directors. The following will thus form as guidelines for employees regarding such relationships - where two employees mutually agree to get married or live together, one of them shall be required to resign from the Sacco within one month to avoid conflict of interest,” reads the policy.

In the case of Mentor, despite finding that the dismissal of two employees was unlawful, the court among other reasons denied their prayer for reinstatement due to a clause within the employer’s human resource manual that discouraged romantic relationships between employees and recommended that where two employees mutually agree to be married, one had to resign to avoid conflict of interest.

To avoid legal battles on grounds of discrimination, Wesley K’Ogangah, an associate lawyer at Anne Babu and Company, notes that employers should avoid imposing blanket bans or severe penalties for consensual relationships.

Doing so, he says, may be seen as infringement to their employees’ personal rights.

“Policies can include provisions requiring the disclosure of relationships that may pose a conflict of interest while avoiding outright prohibitions on workplace romance,” says Mr K’Ogangah.

“Policies that impose blanket bans or excessive monitoring of such relationships may be deemed invasive and unconstitutional, as the court ruled in MNM versus G4S Kenya.”

He notes that by implementing well-considered policies and enforcing them consistently, employers can avoid legal challenges while maintaining a professional and respectful work environment.

→ gngigi@ke.nationmedia.com

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