How Do Married Couples in the Same Team Affect Dynamics and What Can Be Done?

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.

Impact of Couples Working Together in the Same Team

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).

Seeking Broader Opinions and Solutions

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.

Maintaining Professional Boundaries

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.

Regards

Encouraging Couples to Work Together: Observations and Policies

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

- Employees and their spouses cannot work in the same team.
- They must be on different projects and have non-reporting relationships. This is an organizational policy to maintain equal employment opportunities and avoid nepotism.
- They cannot be in conflicting or highly confidential roles, such as Audit & Compliance. The issue arises when one resigns and joins a competitor, creating a conflict of interest. For example, if one is working for Ernst & Young and the other suddenly joins Deloitte!
- Complementary roles such as Marketing and PR are permissible, but required secrecy must be maintained in the job.
- Leave planning needs attention when both employees work in critical roles.
- We are human beings, yet in this work arrangement, personal problems are strictly kept out of the office campus.
- Unless it's an entrepreneurial firm where the couple are partners in the venture, I am not sure how couples work in the same team.

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

Regards,
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