Fired for a workplace dispute? This is how multinationals regulate romantic relationships.

BarcelonaThe case of Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe, who was fired last Monday for keeping a romantic relationship with a subordinate a secret, has once again brought to the fore an old dilemma: to what extent can a company regulate the personal lives of its employees? The Swiss multinational ended up dismissing its top executive after an internal investigation—supervised by Pablo Isla, the future president of the food group and former president of Inditex—determined that Freixe had breached the company's code of conduct.

"Could members of my family or close associates receive any kind of undeserved benefit or advantage from this situation? Could this situation affect my judgment in any way? Could it appear to be a conflict of interest to another person? Would I feel uncomfortable if my colleagues, my manager, or the general public knew about it?" These are the four questions that Nestlé poses in this document for its employees to ask themselves if they believe they may be facing a potential conflict of interest. If the answer is "yes" or "I'm not sure," they recommend contacting the human resources department. The multinational's code of conduct is clear: these situations must be reported so the company can take action. Romantic or family relationships in which one of the parties directly reports to the other are not permitted, and if it's indirect, it will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

In Spain, there is no law that specifically prohibits or regulates romantic relationships in the workplace. However, it's not surprising that large multinationals, consulting firms, or law firms have internal codes of conduct, like Nestlé's, that stipulate how to act in cases like this. "These relationships are not prohibited. What they say is that you must inform your superior," explains Fernando Calvo, Director of People & Culture at the human resources firm Hays Spain. In his opinion, this is an exercise in transparency, especially necessary when it comes to senior management positions, since the company needs to understand "what relationships can interfere with the objectivity of decision-making" and demand exemplary conduct from its top management.

However, Calvo points out that in Spain, firing someone simply for having a romantic relationship with someone from the same company is also a decision that can end up in court. "It all depends on the focus, whether it is on the interference with the individual's rights and freedoms. There are rulings that have deemed some of these dismissals void," she adds.

In the United States, there is also no legal prohibition that prevents two employees from being together, but it is more common for companies to have very clear internal rules that require notification of these relationships to human resources and that require transfers or reassignments to avoid conflicts of interest. These documents are sometimes called love contracts either consensual relationship agreements and they also serve to protect the company in court in case of a lawsuit.. "It's serious that the CEO of a company is the one who violates the company's internal constitution," says Calvo. Internal codes of conduct also regulate other aspects such as accepting gifts, corruption, and misuse of information systems like email.

Possible solutions

A clear example of this stricter view of workplace relationships in the US. the scandal baptized as Coldplaygate, which ended with the resignations of the CEO of the technology company Astronomer, Andy Byron, and the director of human resources, Kristin Cabot, after their affair at a concert for the British pop group was exposed. Undisclosed relationships within the company have also cost other executives their jobs, such as the former president and CEO of Boeing, Harry Stonecipher, the former CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, and the former CEO of Intel, Brian Krzanich.

For Indry Canchila, managing partner of the consulting practice at the human resources group ICSA, the best solution in these cases is usually to transfer one of those involved to another department where there is no longer a direct reporting relationship between the two people. "Companies should be able to help employees manage it," she says. In any case, the expert emphasizes the importance of protecting staff privacy and that the company cannot, under any circumstances, inquire into an employee's private life without their consent. "He should be the one who wants to communicate it, also because he understands that when he does, he puts an end to the rumors that circulate in the office and takes control of the situation," he says.

Ultimately, Canchila summarizes, if you spend eight hours a day at work, statistically speaking, you're more likely to become romantically involved with someone in the office than in other social settings. The important thing, for both the employee and the company, is that these relationships don't generate favoritism or negatively affect other colleagues, as is the case at Nestlé, where other employees anonymously reported the situation.