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President Barack Obama (left) and former First Lady Michelle Obama (right).
- McDonald's board voted to fire CEO Steve Easterbrook on November 1 over a relationship he had with an employee.
- Major corporations tend to have policies on disclosing romantic relationships and forbidding relationships between direct supervisors and their employees.
- If a policy is violated and a boss has a romantic relationship with a subordinate, it can result in the termination of an executive, as in the cases of Lincoln Center's former president Jed Bernstein and Intel's former CEO Brian Krzanich.
- Despite the risks, workplace relationships happen - in government, in media, in private companies, and in public companies too.
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McDonald's board voted to fire CEO Steve Easterbrook on November 1 over a relationship he had with an employee.
Easterbrook "violated company policy and demonstrated poor judgment involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee," a McDonald's press release stated.
Major corporations tend to have policies on disclosing romantic relationships and forbidding relationships between direct supervisors and their employees. If a policy is violated and a boss has a romantic relationship with a subordinate, it can result in the termination of an executive, as in the case of Lincoln Center's former president Jed Bernstein, Intel's former CEO Brian Krzanich, and now McDonald's former CEO Easterbrook.
Despite the risks, office romances happen. Sometimes, they result in long relationships for powerful couples, as in the cases of Michelle and Barack Obama who met early in their
Other times, the power dynamics of office relationships are problematic, with relationships being or becoming coercive.
Here's a rundown of the most famous and infamous workplace relationships.