So I work for an organization where we have 3 couples working within the same department. In one instance we have a wife whose husband is also her project manager!!!!!!!!!! This is the first time seeing this; I feel it can get conflicting. What are your thoughts is this common across companies?????
Thoughts of spouse working within the same department of a company
- Thread starter steppinthrax
- Start date
We had a husband and wife working in our department and it seemed to work out just fine for several years. Then the husband got laid off. Awwwkkward.
- Oct 30, 2000
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Hard on the spouse, when a supervisor/manager is hitting on them, to maintain a positive relationship at work and then at home.:whiste:
KidNiki1
Platinum Member
- Oct 15, 2010
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my last work place had a pretty involved policy about spouses working together. they couldnt work within the same reporting structure, ie sales vs operations vs it vs hr. so as long as the VP at the top of their reporting structure was not the same, it was ok. if two people in the same dept / reporting structure wanted to get married to each other, one of them had to transfer or quit. i think there was a stipulation about length of time served but in essence...working in the same deparment was a no go, much less one spouse reporting to another. that just has trouble written alllllll over imo.
kranky
Elite Member
- Oct 9, 1999
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We had a similar situation years ago that really was bad. The wife was exec assistant to a VP, the husband was in a different group in a worker bee position. There was a modest layoff and the husband was one of the people who got it.
The wife was in a position to make life miserable for her husband's manager, that manager's director, and that director's VP (let's call them the gang of 3), and she did. And within 2 years, the manager and the director were gone.
There were very subtle things that you couldn't do anything about. If one of the gang of 3 wanted to meet with her boss, there was no available time. Emailed reports and phone messages from them would occasionally not reach her boss somehow. Her boss found many things to complain about in the gang of 3's handling of just about everything because she would find ways to make her boss aware of things without making it seem like she was being vindictive.
The most outrageous IMHO was when the director wanted to meet with her boss on an urgent matter and she told the director to come by the next day at 1 PM knowing the director had a doctor's appointment at the same time. The director asked her to find any other time to meet because he did not want to reschedule his doctor visit. She said she would take care of it then did nothing. The director goes to the doctor, and at the appointed time the VP thinks the director is a no-show for the "urgent" meeting and asks her to locate the director. She says she can't locate him and then tells the VP, "I'm sorry I didn't call (director) to remind him of the meeting. I was really busy and I usually call to remind him when he has a meeting with you. I guess it wasn't that urgent after all."
So that planted the notion with the VP that (director) is a scatterbrained person who can't keep track of appointments that HE asked for and said was urgent.
Even though she and her husband were in different departments, it was an ugly situation.
OutHouse
Lifer
- Jun 5, 2000
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not good. lots of bad things can happen as others posted their personal experiences.
like rudder said i love my wife but could not work with her. everybody needs a little separation to keep the marriage healthy. hell look at old retired people they are ready to kill each other. heheh
like rudder said i love my wife but could not work with her. everybody needs a little separation to keep the marriage healthy. hell look at old retired people they are ready to kill each other. heheh
Me and my wife met at work. She was my boss for the first two years I was there. I ended up leaving, but it wasn't bad. No different than when dating someone in the same office.
Texashiker
Lifer
- Dec 18, 2010
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My wife and I used to work for the same company but different departments. The 2 departments interacted with each other. Our supervisor said we worked very well together, better then some of the other husband / wife teams he had seen.
In another department there was a husband a wife that worked together. There was always some kind of tension between the two of them. When they were bickering at home, that bickering came to work with them. It made the work environment tense.
When a husband and wife spend almost every waking hour with each other, they have to have a special type of relationship. Most people could not spend everyday all day with the same person.
As for the OP, I would not want to work in that situation.
In another department there was a husband a wife that worked together. There was always some kind of tension between the two of them. When they were bickering at home, that bickering came to work with them. It made the work environment tense.
When a husband and wife spend almost every waking hour with each other, they have to have a special type of relationship. Most people could not spend everyday all day with the same person.
As for the OP, I would not want to work in that situation.
SpatiallyAware
Lifer
- Sep 7, 2009
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Terrible idea, and in my experience companies that allow that sort of thing also make other terrible decisions.
Saint Nick
Lifer
- Jan 21, 2005
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I interned with a married couple. They sat right next to each other and did almost the exact same line of work. I think they met on the job. Both of them had already been married before.
I think that for the person whos the spouse is working within the same comp/dept, it may see like everything is going OK. However, it creates a dynamic that everyone is aware of within their dealings with your or your wife.
Example, If I have an issue (work related) with your wife and she gets angry and goes to you about it, likely you will get angry at me, since you have a personal relationship with that other person that goes (you may feel) beyond work.
Also I generally find when the husband and wife work within the same org. Other employees are "careful" of how they treat each of the spouses. The two employees tend to have some unjustified political power within the org, since they are perceived at having a bigger stake in the company....
So in actuality, it seems to work great for you because you are not going to be treated like a traditional employee.
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
- Feb 6, 2007
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Everywhere I've worked has had strict policies regarding inter-office relationships; specifically, they weren't allowed within the same department. It's the only sensible way to run things; it creates too big a conflict of interest regarding promotions, terminations or general office politics.
My fiancee's sister recently experienced a situation which is the perfect example of why office relationships cannot work. She started dating a man who worked in the same department as her; it was allowed because they were the same level employees. After a few months they were getting pretty serious, talking about taking the next step, moving in together, etc... and then he was promoted. Because of the company's anti-nepotism policy, they had to break up. Had they never started dating, that whole mess could have been avoided.
Don't shit where you eat.
My fiancee's sister recently experienced a situation which is the perfect example of why office relationships cannot work. She started dating a man who worked in the same department as her; it was allowed because they were the same level employees. After a few months they were getting pretty serious, talking about taking the next step, moving in together, etc... and then he was promoted. Because of the company's anti-nepotism policy, they had to break up. Had they never started dating, that whole mess could have been avoided.
Don't shit where you eat.
My SO sits right behind me at work (our desks face the opposite directions). Other than when we go to the bathroom, we literally spend 24hours a day with each other.
We work in a research lab so the dynamics are a bit different from the corporate world though.
We work in a research lab so the dynamics are a bit different from the corporate world though.
Texashiker
Lifer
- Dec 18, 2010
- 18,811
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Yep, it takes a special relationship to be able to be able to manage a relationship and work at the same time, most people can not do it.
I forgot to mention, my wife worked at one office, and I worked at a separate office. A few times I had to go to her office to help out, or she came to my office to help out. We were not working together "everyday".
There was one couple that worked in the same office and the same department. He started paying a lot of attention to a younger lady, so rumors started going around that the husband and the younger lady were having an affair.
The rumors put the office on edge. We were expecting the wife to blow up at any second.
- Oct 9, 1999
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Baked
Lifer
- Dec 28, 2004
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The supervisor can't help it when the employee is keep flirting and giving off hints of unhappy relationship at home.
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