Love at the Office

The recent admission by late night comedian, David Letterman, to numerous sexual encounters with his staff members and interns over the years, has caused some interesting dialogue that illustrates the changing trends in our values. Many people thought this was funny; in fact, the way Letterman related this to his audience it appeared that he was telling a joke. He also said that he was concerned that his admission might embarrass the women involved. Now, tell me that wasn’t a sexist remark! Of course, he wasn’t embarrassed at all. I never thought I’d see the day that a married man with a child, admitting to such an indiscretion on national TV would be applauded and laughed at.

Now, I’m not a moralist or a prude, but since I was born in a different era I may be considered “a little behind the times”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against love in the workplace, in fact, surveys show that 40% of us have been involved in romance with a co-worker. Most people don’t mind if it’s a peer relationship, however, when it’s between a boss and a subordinate and either one is married, it gets a negative reaction. It’s particularly egregious when the supervisor controls the promotions, salary, and career path of the subordinate. In many companies the involved parties are shown the door. In fact, some executive contracts have language to that effect.

It’s clear that in Letterman’s case, the affairs were well known by co-workers, they occurred when he was married, CBS was aware of it, but nothing was done, even though Letterman controlled the destiny of these people and they were considerably younger. In fact, it’s been revealed that he offered to pay for law school for one of them and then hire her as his attorney once she graduated.

I encountered such a situation as an executive when a manager who reported to me was caught in a comprising sexual situation by a cleaning woman when she unexpectedly arrived at his office. She reported it immediately to our Human Resources person, who was still in the building, and the act was verified. The manager was married for 30 years, had married children, and the female involved reported to him. She had been aggressively promoted and given generous salary treatment. I immediately took action by sending the female to another division and the manager was re-assigned and demoted. He eventually divorced his wife and married another workplace mate.

I was eventually thanked by many people in the organization who were aware of what was going on but were intimidated by the manager and his indiscretions and didn’t make me aware of it. I guess today my actions would be considered as somewhat of an “overkill”, but I think most of you over 50 believe I did the right thing. In the meantime, Letterman keeps using it in his monologue, the audience keeps laughing, and his ratings are sky-high.

I never did think Letterman was funny…now I know why.