Mixing business and pleasure is such a controversial topic in the world of business today. We all know that it happens; sometimes secretly and sometimes out in the open. There are good and bad points to mixing business and pleasure, but like to everything in life there will always be the positive and negative aspects to everything. Possibly the main point is to have a balance. It is when one outweighs the other when problems possibly occur.
Some people think that mixing business and pleasure is a good idea as sometimes work can get boring and a little frolic and fun will not do any harm. Others think it is a bad idea as people can get emotionally involved. Work starts to become a soap opera where emotions start to become a part of the workplace, which could affect the business.
The fact is we practically live at work for most of our time. The people we interact with the most are not our friends and family but are actually the people we work with. The true ingredients to the successful relationships which happen around us are communication and things which you have in common.
In logical aspects it starts to make sense to have a rendezvous with one’s work colleague! Logical sense as in they would know exactly everything that happened in the working environment on that day and would be more understanding and sympathetic if you had a hard day at work.
However there are some businesses, which strictly enforce the rule of no fun; where work is strictly for work! However, with rules like this enforced, as humans do we not have that rule in our head where ‘rules are there to be broken’. It is what we are not allowed to do, which sometimes tempts us the most.
The unfortunate thing is that we are only human and pleasure is a part of our human nature, which cannot be helped, including in the business world. The fact is there is just too much fraternising where human interactions are concerned. Business or no business! So should business be strictly kept to business? Business and pleasure, is it really a good idea to mix the two together?
Article by C-Jay Micu
Inside Success investigates to find out what people really think.
‘It’s a pretty basic understanding with most that whilst being at work there is a strict line between being professional with your colleagues and being sexually intimate with them. Mixing business with pleasure is taboo talk in the office and is usually in most cases scrutinised. It’s advisable that a person shouldn’t get involved with a co-worker, as it could implicate and jeopardise your work status and rapport with others in the work place. In saying that, I’ve met a handful of people that have benefited from relationships in the work-place, managing to bond with contractors.’
Reia Espiratu – Apple
‘Yes, you can mix business with pleasure, but you have to make sure that you have a balance. As with everything in life, having too much of one thing is not good for you.’
Maria Maca – Business Link
‘Yes, providing you both know where you stand – as in if you are in an exclusive relationship or not, if other people know you are together or not. I wouldn’t think it would suit people who are more on the emotional side though.’
Charlotte Brown – Barclays
‘I think you can mix business and pleasure if you have a plan and stick to it. Look at all the power couples that are around us … it’s inevitable that we spend more time on our business and the people in our network’
Andrea 24, CEO of Playvybz.com Radio and Training Academy
