In January, Jeff Zucker resigned as president of CNN after an internal investigation into the conduct of fired former anchor Chris Cuomo found Zucker had violated company policy by failing to disclose a “consensual” romantic relationship with another senior executive at CNN, renewing debate about the role of HR in employees’ private lives.

According to new research from SHRM, Zucker is far from alone in engaging in a workplace romance. SHRM asked a nationally representative sample of 550 US workers about their office dating behavior and found that:

• 35% of workers surveyed said they have been on a date with someone from their workplace, and a third are currently involved in—or have been involved in—a workplace relationship.
• These workers aren’t usually sidling up to an HR rep to dish the deets—over three-quarters of employees who have been involved in workplace relationships say their employers don’t require disclosure; and the same percentage of workers who have been in a workplace romance said they chose not to disclose it to their employer.

Some experts, including Andrew Challenger, SVP, head of sales and media at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., a consulting firm that studies workplace policy, believe that HR should tighten up policies around workplace dating. Challenger said in a statement that HR doesn’t do itself any favors by waiting until relationships sour to get involved.

“At that point, HR is left with limited options, most of which are unsatisfactory not only for the employee, but also for the company,” Challenger said.

Creating a proactive policy, like the one Challenger envisions, could be easier said than done. Workplace-relationship experts and employment attorneys agree: It is difficult to create a policy that fits the modern realities of workplace dating.

Love rules. Sean Horan, a professor of communication at Fairfield University, has spent the past 10 years collecting qualitative and quantitative data about workplace relationships. He said that he is wary of requiring employees to disclose their workplace romantic relationships.

For starters, Horan said, workers may not be sure they’re even in a workplace romance.

“There’s a disconnect between how [HR] policies are written and the way relationships come together,” Horan explained. “In early stages of courtship, it’s ambiguous. Say we go to the movies or for dinner. Are we friends, or are we dating? I do those things with friends, too. Do I tell HR about my friend with benefits? If we’re just having sex, does HR need to know that? People don’t label those relationships.”

Another problem, according to Horan, is that employees may not know the policies and procedures that govern dating. Keep reading here.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SusannaVogel1 on Twitter. For confidential conversations, ask Susanna for her number on Signal.

On Wednesdays, we schedule our weekly 1:1 with HR Brew’s readers. But today we’re thrilled to introduce our newest reporter, Kristen Parisi. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Kristen Parisi spent the better part of a decade working on consumer and corporate public relations campaigns, including for Kayak, Personal Capital, and Adecco, and she joins Morning Brew after freelancing for outlets like Today.com, BuzzFeed, and Screen Rant. She won a 2019 Gracie Award for her Today Digital piece advocating for authentic disability representation in the news, and is a dedicated caretaker for her two feisty pets.

What are you most interested in exploring as you begin reporting on the HR industry? I love how HR leaders are creating inclusive, educational workplaces, even when those offices are in the home.

What’s the best interaction you’ve had with someone in HR where you’ve worked? I worked at a small company where the culture director had weekly check-ins with each employee, just to gauge how employees were feeling. It created a deep feeling of trust and transparency.

And the worst, or most awkward, experience with HR? I interviewed for a big job and when the recruiter reached out to say that I had not gotten the job, she said, “But you’re truly an inspiration.” It’s not something that anyone should say to a disabled person and revealed the individual’s unconscious bias.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you've worked? Way back when I was an intern, I instituted intern-only lunches as a way to collaborate, commiserate, and learn with each other.

What’s something you do unrelated to being a reporter that might surprise or impress us? I’ve completed four half-marathons, and I’m eager to start training for the next one!

If you could live and work anywhere in the world for six months, where would you go? Northern Norway so I could see the northern lights, watch wild orcas, and have waffles at lunchtime.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year, and why? American Royals by Katharine McGee because it (spoiler alert) depicts a female ruler-to-be and was an entertaining, fun escape from the heaviness of 2021.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Nearly half of working parents who participated in a January survey said they have “reached their breaking point as the pandemic continues, with disruption in child care being a prominent stressor.” (Bright Horizons via Worklife)

Quote: “For a long time, emotions were viewed as noise, a nuisance, something to be ignored. But one thing we now know after more than a quarter century of research is that emotions are not noise—rather, they are data. They reveal not just how people feel, but also what they think and how they will behave. ”—The recently deceased Sigal Barsade, an influential management professor who advised companies to support their employees’ emotional well-being

Read: A look at why so many HR tech startups are founded in Ukraine. (TLNT)

What’s in the secret startup sauce? Join Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman and Electric for a webinar on cultivating growth and building a successful startup. Alex will answer questions, offer advice, and share his own startup story—from idea to acquisition. Reserve your spot today.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

Catch up on the top HR Brew stories from the recent past:

• Robots or Cobots? The difference could make—or break—your workplace culture
• How HR could be implicated in allegations of toxic culture at Activision Blizzard
• ERGs take extra work. Should employees be paid extra for participating?