Remedies For Husband And Wife In The Same Team

Hello Seniors,

I am trying to find out what was already asked (but answered mostly from the husband and wife's perspective) and now trying to find the impact on the other members in the team and the team's synergy.

In spite of having an organization policy not to have both husband and wife in the same team: We are having a team of ten people, and of which three couples are working in the same team, and the manager is a spouse to one of the team members. I am one of the remaining four people.

From personal experience, it is affecting the work atmosphere, of which communication (between the team members) is the most and continuous prejudices and resentment in the team members. Also, as discussed, we already noticed the concerns of combined leave, one spouse backing up the other (in good and bad ways).

I am trying to find out the broader opinion on this subject from the experts.

Please advise: 1. Is it advisable team configuration to have several married couples in the same team? 2. If there are any academic references/white papers on this subject, please share. 3. What are the remedies/corrective actions to make the existing team jell more and increase the synergy?

Thanks in advance.

P.S.: There was an old (closed) discussion on this forum about the same topic, but I'm not able to paste the link due to restrictions on new members sharing links.

We should always keep personal relationships, love, and friendship separate when we are working. Therefore, please consider transferring the individual to another team or location to prevent any meetings during office hours.

Greetings,

There are firms, that encourage couples working together for the same employer to build stability. However, the ones, which I worked with, Here's what I saw:

• The employees and the spouse cannot work in the same team.
  
• It had to be different projects and non-reporting relationships. This was an organization policy to maintain equal employment opportunity and avoid nepotism.
  
• They cannot be in conflicting or on highly confidential roles, such as Audit & Compliance. The problem being, when one would resign and join a competitor, it will create conflict of interest. Suppose one is working for Ernest & Young and the other suddenly joins Deloitte!
  
• Complementing roles such as Marketing and PR would still work, but with required secrecy to be maintained in the job.
  
• Leave planning needs attention, when both the employees work in critical roles.
  
• We are human beings , yet in this work arrangement, personal problems are strictly out of the office campus
  
• Until and unless it’s an entrepreneurial firm where the couple are partners to the venture, I am not sure, how do couples work in the same team.
  

I look forward to hear from other members in this community.

Regards,

(Cite Contribution)