Members love their credit unions – but what about a different kind of CU love affair?
Those numbers suggest that while office romances aren’t especially common, they do happen. But what about at credit unions? Like other industries, CUs occasionally see relationships blossom among employees, and some institutions have developed strategies to guide them when those situations arise.
Jackie Henderson, VP of human resources at Rivermark Community Credit Union, a $780-million institution based in Beaverton, Ore., said that at her CU they see "lots of office friendships cultivating, and sometimes they develop beyond a simple friendship to something else."
However, she noted that office relationships "almost never end up with a happy ending, but still they are always springing up, no matter what history shows us.”
Indeed, for busy people working full-time, the office is often the best place to meet new potential mates. However, such relationships can be fraught with problems – both for the participants themselves and for their employers.
"Our credit union [has] policies in place surrounding this topic," Henderson said. While those policies aren’t intended to dissuade or prevent such entanglements, they are in place “to ensure that there cannot be any perception of favoritism or opportunity for sexual harassment to develop in the workplace."
Indeed, if an intimate relationship between two employees sours, complications and awkwardness can ensue. Even worse, one party could conceivably charge the other with sexual harassment or other forms of abuse and retaliation, none of which are beneficial to the workplace as a whole.
In order to avoid those situations, Riverwalk does not permit anyone in a position of authority to have direct supervisory responsibility over anyone they are related to or have a personal relationship with.
"If a relationship does cultivate [between two staff members], we offer the option of the employee applying for other positions where there is no direct supervision of that person involved," Henderson said. "This could also involve moving the manager to another area to accommodate the relationship."
Long-term relationships or marriages among coworkers can still create problems, especially if the couple works closely together or if accusations of nepotism arise, all of which can hurt employee morale or potentially lower productivity.
"In addition to claims of partiality in treatment at work, personal conflicts from outside the work environment can be carried into day-to-day working relationships," Henderson explained. "We would not hire the spouse or significant other of an existing employee if that would place one into a direct or indirect supervisory relationship."
First comes love…
Indeed, complex and prickly legal issues and ramifications abound when considering the personal relationships of the workforce.
While employers can hardly dictate the terms and rules of their employees’ personal lives outside of the office, they can impose penalties or restrictions in the event that personal issues adversely impact the workplace – at least up to a point. For example, many workplaces have strict rules about drug and alcohol abuse, particularly if such conduct intrudes on performance and attendance on the job.
Ginger D. Schröder, founding partner of Schröder, Joseph & Associates, a Buffalo-based boutique law firm that focuses on management-side labor and employment law, said that corporate prohibitions on employee conduct are generally set by state law.
“For instance, New York State has a state law that prevents employers from discriminating against employees for some aspects of that employee’s off-duty life, such as lawful use of consumable products (tobacco, alcohol) and certain recreational activities,” she said. “Without such prohibitions set by either state or federal law, private employers are pretty much able to dictate a lot about an employee’s personal life.”
Jeff Tanenbaum, a labor and employment partner at the San Francisco office of Nixon Peabody LLP, said most banks and credit unions do not have specific policies related to their employees' love lives.
"HR departments have a lot of other things to do," he said. "Thus, establishing and enforcing rules on off-duty conduct will typically not be a high priority… Employers really want to avoid interfering with the personal lives of employees."
A more common measure, Tanenbaum indicated, would relate to an anti-nepotism policy, which would prohibit family members or significant others from being in a reporting relationship to one another, such as the policy Henderson described at Rivermark.
"What is a high priority is when an office relationship adversely impacts on the workplace," Tanenbaum added. "This can often happen when a relationship goes bad or one or both parties in the relationship demonstrate favoritism to each other."
Tanenbaum advised that HR departments need to take steps to prevent that and respond appropriately when it does happen. "This typically involves reminders about anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, training, counseling and sometimes disciplinary action," he elaborated. "And sometimes a consensual-relationship agreement is used."
When such policies are developed, it is usually out of concern for workplace disruption.
Conversely, employers should not be in the business of encouraging dating and romance among their staff either. Schroder said this is largely due to the perception of decreased production, distractions, possible conflicts of interest, favoritism and, of course, if the romance goes sour, harassment and retaliation by the rejected paramour.
When infatuation turns to harassment
What institutions most want to avoid, sources said, are incidents of sexual harassment that can arise from a failed relationship, an unrequited infatuation or a myriad of other scenarios. In response, many corporations have strong policies to prevent such behavior and punish it when it occurs.
Indeed, as Schroder points out, most companies have policies that prohibit sexual harassment, but very few have developed policies for workplace romances.
“Harassment policies typically provide a mechanism for reporting with multiple options, an investigation by the credit union/bank and then corrective action as appropriate, which may involve retraining, and/or disciplinary action,” Tanenbaum noted. “It is not unusual at all for a perpetrator of harassment to be fired.”
Schroder added that victims of sexual harassment do not determine the consequences for such behavior; employers are required to investigate complaints fairly, make determinations and decide the appropriate corrective remedial action, including possible discipline for policy violators.
“Anyone who feels that they have been a victim of unlawful harassment should review the company’s policy and determine who it is that they should complain to about the behavior,” she said.
Many CUs and credit union organizations have rigorous policies in place to protect against these sorts of situations. The California and Nevada Credit Union League, for example, requires that if a local credit union has 50 or more employees, they must provide sexual harassment awareness and prevention training to supervisors and managers every two years.
And credit unions themselves have stepped up and taken action in recent years when incidents of harassment have occurred. In Ottumwa, Iowa, for example, the board of Community 1st CU fired then-President and CEO Terry Maloy following sexual harassment claims from female employees.
