Intimate Relationships at Work

Marta Scott is an intelligent, cultured, extremely sociable and uninhibited woman. Tall, elegant and with a dark complexion, the result of a diverse genetic heritage. Born in Lisbon in 1987, her father, an American hotel director, lived as an expatriate in Portugal in the 1980s, as operations director for a multinational American hotel chain. Her mother, Portuguese and mulatto, was a receptionist at one of the group’s hotels, where she met the man who would become her husband. After the end of the expatriation contract, Sr. Scott returned to the United States, taking with him his wife and little Marta, who was not yet two years old. Marta grew up and studied in the United States, where she spoke Portuguese at home with her mother and English with everyone, becoming bilingual.

Back to Portugal

After completing her degree in marketing and working for four years in a retail company in Houston, Marta decided to return to Portugal to get to know (her) country and its culture better. In 2015, at the age of 28, she moved to Portugal, renting a small apartment in Queluz. Independent and proud, Marta quickly found a job with an energy organization in Lisbon.

The company

The company, despite being multinational and having very interesting results, had an ageing workforce and a culture that had stopped in the 90s. The culture shock was great, but Marta overcame it. She started out as a marketing technician and was soon promoted to coordinator of a strategic marketing team. Although she was competent and a genuinely good leader, her rise generated discomfort due to rumors of an alleged love affair with the department’s director, Francisco Mello Rosa.

The boss

Francisco, the marketing director, was a 41-year-old professional with an enviable career. Promoted to director at 34, he revolutionized the organization’s marketing with excellent results. Francisco and Marta hit it off from the first minute; right after the job interview, she hadn’t even left the building and he was already calling her to offer her the position.

The relationship between Marta and Francisco

The complicit glances, conversations in corners with embarrassed smiles, meetings behind closed doors, daily lunches and many trips together did not go unnoticed. At the company Christmas dinner, they sat next to each other and, after a few drinks, the touches and ease between them were revealing. It turned out that Francisco was married and had four children, which, given this extramarital affair, didn’t help his popularity in the organization. One day, the company’s security guards showed the security director a recording of the garage, where Francisco and Marta got into his car and, after a few jolts, Marta got out, getting dressed. The security director took the case to the human resources director and the president, who decided to open a disciplinary procedure, trying to keep it discreet. The news spread quickly and Marta had to leave the company immediately.

The consequences

Marta, embarrassed, disappeared from social media and was never seen in Lisbon again. Rumor has it that she has returned to the United States, although someone had sworn to see her one day in London, UK. Francisco’s life became unbearable in the organization and at home. A couple of months later, he left the company and went to work for a large multinational in Mozambique, while his family remained in Portugal.

What can we take from this story?

Intimate relationships at work are common, but they can be challenging. Studies show that these relationships can increase happiness and reduce absenteeism, but it is crucial to maintain very clear boundaries. When these relationships occur between manager and subordinate – and/or in directly related areas – conflicts of interest can arise, which can seriously damage the organization and, consequently, all the people who work there. Some organizations forbid family members from coexisting in the workplace, but often these relationships only happen when you both know each other in the company. Is it right to ban these situations? How to manage potential conflicts of interest? There is no single answer, each case must be assessed individually, with a lot of common sense.