What You and Your Partner Should Agree on If You Both Work for the Same Company
Separating your personal and professional life can be challenging when you work in the same place with your significant other. Here’s what you need to discuss to make sure your relationship doesn’t affect your work, and vice versa.
Even if you don’t work in the same team or department, agreeing on how you will handle the following situations will make your relationship easier.
- Should we spend time out of the office in a conversation-free zone in the store? At the front door, the conversation about the store stops? Going home? What if you go out for a drink with your coworkers?
- How will we communicate at work? You don’t want to interrupt your professional life by only dining with each other every day. How comfortable is it for you to see your partner during your working day? You can also lay out the rules for the PDA and discuss any personal issues at work.
- What will we do if one of us has difficulties at work? It’s hard to imagine a future in which one of you will be fired, fired, or hate your job and company. But you should talk about it now and how it might affect the other partner’s ability to focus on their work.
- What will we do if we both get fired? If your company is going through layoffs, you can both lose your job at about the same time. Make a plan and create an emergency fund so that all your eggs are not in the same basket
- How will we make sure that each of us has enough “free time” before or after work? Most people use work and lunch breaks to recharge and be alone for a couple of minutes, but if you work together, you can spend time on the road or have lunch with your partner. How do you two adapt without isolating each other?
This is just a starting point. The more you talk about it, the easier it will be to maintain a boundary between what is happening at work and outside of work, which can have a big impact on your relationship and career.
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