If everything you knew about office life came from NBC's serial mockumentary "The Office," you would be forgiven for thinking romance is the main spice of workplace life.
Pam the secretary and Jim the salesman send flirtatious glances across the fictional offices of paper company Dunder Mifflin; Michael, the regional manager, escapes with his boss, Jan, for a forbidden fling in Jamaica, and straight-laced Dwight and Angela relish the cloak-and-dagger thrill of concealing their mutual passion. But the satire here seems not far from reality -- especially when Toby, the long-faced HR representative from corporate, makes his lackluster exhortation that employees must report their romantic relationships to him. "Even a one-night stand?" asks Phyllis, a middle-aged member of the sales team, to the surprise of her co-workers.
"The Office" confirms with satire what recent studies have demonstrated with numbers: Romances shape office life, and human resource departments don't have much to say about it.
See full Article.
Posts
