Why You Should Avoid Having A Work Spouse At The Office

A work spouse is a term mainly used in American English that refers to a coworker of the opposite sex with whom you have a close relationship, similar to that of marriage. A work spouse is a person on whom you depend for office supplies, for lunch and coffee breaks; with whom you share almost everything in the office.


The big question here is ‘Is it OK to have a work wife or work husband?’


Ideally better not to have one as you can be involved in something called emotional infidelity. This will lead you to take the larger portion of your emotional self and place it in the hands of a member from the opposite sex, outside of your marriage. It is observed that the workplace is where most cheating occurs – physical and emotional. It occurs there because you’re intense and too much involved. You are having very meaningful conversations about work, which is a large part of your life, potentially with somebody you are closed to, mainly with a member of the opposite sex. All these conversations you have with your work spouse get seeped into a lot of personal situations. How to avoid getting trapped in a situation like this then?


You need to keep some rules or guidelines handy to avoid emotional infidelity at the office.

1. Keep it all business at the office. You don’t have to be the big friend at the office. You can keep it to work.

2. Avoid eating out alone with a member of the opposite sex. To have a business lunch inside the office is very different.

3. Include a third person. It is hard to get that personal good feeling when there is a third person in the meeting - at the lunch or dinner meeting.

4. Avoid having alcohol. The more we drink the more our inhibitions subside and we are prone to start something that will be inappropriate.

5. Lastly, include your spouse more in your work. Talk about your spouse more.


You can have a relationship of friendship with an opposite-sex person, but make sure that the connection and times you are having the conversations are infrequent and not as regular about your personal business.


Here is a trick. If you are walking away with a little too much bounce in your step, be assured that you have a work spouse and that you are treading on thin ice. Think a hundred times and change what you are doing before it’s too late.