The People Bulletin

The steamy world of workplace romances may be even more bewildering than previously reported in the People Bulletin.  In our story on ‘Desktop dating here to stay according to recent survey’ (17^th March), we reported that the armed forces were among the minority of employers to have clear policies on sexual and romantic relationships, banning them between serving personnel.

Yet in May the Ministry of Defence took an advert in the official Army magazine, Soldier, urging female soldiers and civilian staff to use a condom, warning: ‘On deployment, there'll be 50 blokes to each woman.’[1]  The Daily Telegraph reported (16^th May) that ‘Military personnel are officially prohibited from sexual relationships in war zones but the rule is rarely enforced provided there is not impact on discipline or operations.’

The Telegraph went on to report that ‘between January 2003 and February 2009, at least 102 British servicewomen posted to Iraq had been sent home after it was found they were to become mothers. Over the same period the number of female soldiers who had discovered they were pregnant while in theatre in Afghanistan was 31.’ Patrick Mercer, a Conservative MP and a former commanding officer, told the newspaper unwanted pregnancies were ‘incredibly expensive’ for the Army.

Meanwhile new research conducted by Angel Productions, in co-operation with researchers at Westminster University, is aiming to cast light on British employers’ policy and practice on workplace romances.  This is with a view to developing a relevant training toolkit. The team is offering incentives to People Bulletin readers who complete surveys for employers and employees, to help build a picture of attitudes to this subject.

If you are an HR/personnel manager, the team would be very interested to hear from you and to ask you complete a short survey by clicking here.

And if you are an individual who has been involved in a workplace relationship or you know of someone who might be willing to take part, there is a second short survey here

All responses will be treated in the strictest confidence and the overall collective results of the survey will form a forthcoming feature in The People Bulletin by the researchers. 

[1] www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7730512/Female-soldiers-urged-to-carry-condoms-to-war.html