Celebrating Valentine’s Day at work can be risky because of the holiday’s theme — love and romance — and the mistaken belief that love and romance can be shared on this special holiday at work.
Despite best intentions, the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day at work is to not celebrate Valentine’s Day at work. Many risks are associated with Valentine’s Day at work with conduct that may seem innocent, but can be misconstrued.
For example, putting candy hearts on your desk may seem like a fun way to celebrate the holiday until a co-worker distributes them to colleagues. While some candy hearts don’t portray love with phrases like “Too cool” or “smile,” most of them can be easily misconstrued such as “hot stuff,” “hug me,” “kiss me” and “crazy4u.”
Consider the co-worker who chose to string together a series of candy hearts on Valentine’s Day, leaving them on a colleague’s keyboard. The four hearts read: “Text me,” “Lover,” “You Rock” and “Soul mate.”
The co-worker took a picture of them and sent it to the team expressing her concerns. He claimed he left them in a pile on her desk, and she put them together to set him up.
Giving flowers, gifts, candy and cards on this day to colleagues should be avoided, unless a colleague is celebrating a birthday and it is customary to bring flowers to co-workers.
Even then, avoid the traditional roses.
Another example of improper behavior involves the case of an employee who gave his female boss a card, stuffed animal and box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. The manager felt that the gifts contained sexually suggestive material and made her uncomfortable. She said she did not want to supervise him any longer as a result.
The outside of the card stated, “It’s Valentine’s Day! What do you say we put on some soft music …” When opened, the card read “… and nothing else.” The inside of the card also depicted a room with a bed and with undergarments strewn about the floor. The card played the Rolling Stone’s song “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”
The employee who gave the card and gifts disagreed that he meant to offend her or make sexual suggestions.
Valentine’s Day also is not a good time to start an office romance (nor is there ever a good time for that matter). Avoid using this day to finally ask out that guy from accounting you’ve been flirting with.
If you are currently dating a co-worker or have a spouse that works in the same organization, the workplace is not the place to express your mutual love for each other on Valentine’s Day. Leave that for after hours.
It makes people uncomfortable, and it’s already awkward that the two of you work together.
On Valentine’s Day, employees should also avoid wearing T-shirts or buttons that have sexually suggestive messages.
In general, go to work, forget it’s Valentine’s Day, and go home and celebrate with the person you love.