Valentine’s Day is when unsung songs sing,
When latent emotions are expressed with zing,
But the workplace romance,
Must be contained in cans,
For the heartaches and scandals can leave their deep sting.

Why do office romances happen? Proximity fuels passion, what? Shared problem-solving, the long hours spent away from home, the official tours where leisure time can be eked out or the cocooned comfort of work situations — all of these can spark off relationships between senior and subordinate. Or in the peer group.

Entanglements will occur. You can’t be blind to the reality shows in a workplace. But could there be some way to, let’s say, regulate the whole phenomenon of romantic involvements?

Ten naked truth questions and observations:

1) Is the “advance” one-sided? Then it could amount to harassment, and to taking advantage of one’s own position to seek an undue favour of a subordinate.

2) How about romance by mutual consent? Perfectly justifiable, if it does not give out wrong signals to the rest of the office. If it culminates in marriage, so much the better. The downside? Taking problems home, jointly. A heightened competitiveness? Probable.

When kids of the duo come along on the scene — what then? Does dad give up the job and stay home? Oh really? An Indian house-husband who gives up the crown to the spouse?

3) What of the broken relationships? Does it vitiate the atmosphere for all around? Does work not get affected? Or promotions stalled if there is a boss-sub tussle?

4) Is the HR department geared up to deal with situations of inappropriate behaviour? And could it make sure that there is no gender discrimination when the parties involved are ticked off?

5) Does anyone recall reading about a marketing company in Tokyo which offers paid leave to employees who have a bad breakup, termed “heartache leave”? We’ve heard the song Heartbreak Hotel, but this one is a heartstopper! Employees of this all-woman firm are given paid leave so that they can cry their hearts out and come back all set to tackle their workload. Companies may not be thrilled about incorporating such a step, but our HR departments could weigh in with some sensible counselling for serious inter-office romance break-ups.

6) There are experts who talk of “fraternisation” policies. Could we not incorporate this into our Corporate Etiquette books, as and when these are formulated?

7) Are there relationships that heads of departments face which are getting out of hand in front of their noses? One solution could be to transfer one of the involved parties out to another division or even another location.

8) Could the comely secretary who has accepted the advances of her boss, be in a position to exert blackmail tactics? A reality that cannot be ignored and should therefore be kept in mind before the first signals are sent out.

9) How about conducting an “affair” with a modicum of discretion? Scandal is not so good for the individual, nor for the company, because spicy news spreads much faster than published upbeat quarterly results.

10) Be wary of emailed propositions. The harm that interceptions can do dogs the doer long after.

So, if what Henry Kissinger said about power being the ultimate aphrodisiac is true, then it should score over momentary passion, at work.