The Kiss Cam Scandal: 3 Overlooked Implications for HR

You’ve seen the kiss cam scandal.

And you’ve probably thought of how it affects HR. After all, one of the culprits involved in the extramarital affair caught on camera and called out at a Coldplay concert was the head of HR.

The cheating CEO from Astronomer resigned quickly after bringing unwanted notoriety to the company he commanded: Clearly, the implications for employers run as long as his new job search will.

Kiss Cam Scandal Affects Many

The trickle-down effect can be worse: More than half of employees say office romances have damaged team morale, according to data from instantprint. Nearly 60% say they’ve felt uncomfortable just knowing a colleague was having an affair. In this case, the world knows about the affair!

“Even if a romance between direct reports thrives, it’s fundamentally unfair to the organization and the rest of its employees,” says Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, a business strategist, podcast host and author of Seeking Fairness at Work: Cracking the New Code of Greater Employee Engagement, Retention & Satisfaction.  That’s “because an employee’s job while at work is to put the best interest of their organization, not their libido, first. When that priority is reversed, the human tendency to show favor to a beloved can create awkward team dynamics and compromise accountability.”

We don’t need to tell any HR professional that workplace romances are dangerous for many reasons. Instead, we dig into three overlooked implications for HR in the midst of a romantic scandal.

Internal Communication

Gossiping at work will happen (just imagine the water cooler at Astronomer the day after the concert!) And that’s exactly why HR pros want to manage the dialogue within the organization.

“It’s impossible to stop people from gossiping. But company leaders should be encouraged not to take part,” says Hasl-Kelchner. “After all, if this scandal does turn into a lawsuit in the future, electronic communications will be subject to discovery.”

Implication: If you let gossip around a scandal — or any incident that incites interest beyond everyday work — run wild, you risk hurting morale, productivity and trust.

Strategy: Manage the message. While you don’t need to talk about everything, you shouldn’t lie to employees about anything. Tell them everything that is legally OK to share. Follow the lead from external communications.

For instance, Hasl-Kelchner says, “Astronomer exercised accountability by placing the employees on leave and starting an external investigation. In doing so, it defended its organizational values, distanced itself from those who appeared to violate them, and sought fact-finding through a neutral third party (most likely an employment law firm) so it could make more informed decisions. Astronomer can do more when they know more. That’s the best anyone can do under the circumstances.”

Code of Conduct

A code of conduct is usually seen as a nice-to-have in an organization: It’s nice to say we do and expect nice things.

But quite often, they’re acknowledged when people sign on to their job and forgotten a month later.

“Even the most beautiful, crystal-clear policies get ignored if employees don’t know what’s in them, don’t understand them, or don’t know how to apply them,” says Hasl-Kelchner. “HR can play a vital role in providing training and coaching to address those issues.”

Implication: If there’s no code of conduct, you can guess there will be plenty of unfavorable conduct within an organization. If there’s a mostly forgotten or ignored code of conduct, you can expect the same results.

Strategy: First, create a code of conduct if it doesn’t exist based on the ideals your culture demands and stakeholders expectations. If you do have a code, make it more visible (posted on walls on-site, at the foot of internal messages, on company screens, etc.). Regularly review the codes of conduct to see if they still make sense for your organization or should be amended.

Beyond that, Hasl-Kelchner suggests including these topics: ethics, conflicts of interest, legal compliance, accountability and dress code.

“These topics are central to honesty, identity, and professionalism. The goal is to avoid trouble and keep things fair,” she says. “A code of conduct does not need to be a massive tome. Some people need a little help identifying the boundaries of what’s on brand and what’s not. That’s all a code of conduct is – a set of boundaries.”

Leadership Standards

Now, if everyone in an organization is held to the code of conduct, should the top leaders be held to a higher set of standards? It’s a question the kiss cam scandal presents, and we won’t claim we have the right answer for everyone. But it’s brought to light a subject that organizations don’t talk about openly.

“Executives, by virtue of their position, are highly visible,” says Hasl-Kelchner. “They are role models for better or worse, whether they realize it or not. Their behavior drives the unwritten rules in an organization that influence productivity and employee engagement.”

Of course, that alone doesn’t suggest they must be held to a higher standard.

Implication: On one hand, leaders behaving badly set the standard. On the other hand, why should the standard be different for anyone? As Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin says, “The standard is the standard.”

Strategies: We have two takes on this subject:

1. Tie Incentives to Standards

Hasl-Kelchner lays it out here: “I’m not in favor of double standards. What I am in favor of is accountability and a review of incentive structures. In other words, how are executives incentivized to uphold the organization’s standards and codes of conduct? How committed are they to upholding the policies vs bending the rules?

“Does a high performer, for example, get a pass for bullying their department simply because they deliver quarterly results? When behavior contrary to the code of conduct gets a pass, it gets normalized, turned into an entitlement, and embedded into the company’s culture. It undermines the written code,” she says.

2. Draw Clear Boundaries

In some cases, you might need more than a code of conduct. Clear lines and examples of what’s acceptable and what isn’t can help.

Here’s why: According to experts at Hogan Assessments, the backlash from a scandal often stems less from the revelation itself and more from what it signals: blurred boundaries, inconsistent values, and a disconnect between how leaders present themselves and how they behave when they think no one is watching.

They’ve found that traits like boldness, mischievousness and sociability can appear charismatic, but they may derail credibility. “As Hogan’s research shows, the behaviors that help people ‘get ahead’ in business may be the same ones that lead to ethical missteps or poor judgment when under stress or scrutiny.”

So you might want to work with an employment law attorney to define boundaries and the consequences for stepping outside of them.

Finally, if you want more information on handling workplace romances before they get to this extreme, check out: Workplace Romance: 3 Keys to Handling Love in the Office.