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Balancing Professional and Personal

Interpersonal relationships can create difficult situations in the workplace - not just office romances, but also friendships. Whenever someone is promoted, they often have to manage their former peers, with whom they may have formed personal friendships.

Having a personal relationship with a colleague who is no longer strictly your peer isn't forbidden, or even to be avoided as a rule, but it does require discretion and care to avoid the appearance of impropriety: a supervisor cannot show favoritism, and a subordinate cannot exploit their personal relationship to gain an advantage in the office.

Some basic guidelines:

If all else fails, one or both parties may need to seek a transfer or job change. Conflicts of interest can do serious damage to the reputation, hence the career, of both parties.


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