Be My Valentine, Co-Worker: HRnext.com Poll Shows Your Employer Probably Won't Mind Your Declaration of Love.

Business Editors

OLD SAYBROOK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2003

So you're smitten with a co-worker.

And you're dying to give him or her a Valentine's Day card or gift. But one thing worries you:

Will it get me in trouble with the boss?

An online poll of human-resource professionals by HRnext and its sister site, BLR.com, finds the percentages in your favor. Two-thirds (67 percent) of HR pros say that at their respective companies, employees giving valentines to each other "is OK by us."

Still, it would be unwise to assume that all employers feel that way. Indeed, the remaining one-third of voters in the poll apparently look upon today's valentine gift as tomorrow's evidence in a sexual-harassment suit. Exactly 30 percent finished the sentence, "Employees giving valentines to each other..." with "makes us nervous. (Lawsuits!)" The remaining 3 percent went so far as to choose the option, "makes us angry. (No fraternizing!)"

The two sites attracted a combined total of 772 votes by noontime (EST) on Thursday. Balloting began Tuesday.

Sexual-harassment concerns notwithstanding, the voting shows that most employers accept some basic realities of today's workplace - and of human nature, HRnext President John Brady said. "Put men and women in an economy where they're required to work longer and longer hours together, and Cupid's arrows are bound to fly," Brady said. "Employers recognize that they can make allowances for this and still set certain boundaries for a smooth-running workplace."

About HRnext

HRnext.com, HR Answers Now, features Daily HR News, white papers, pre-written job descriptions and checklists. Its topic driven, 5,000-page HR Library provides instant answers to compliance and policy questions. HRnext is a division of compliance publisher Business & Legal Reports Inc. Visit HRnext at http://www.hrnext.com .