| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 28/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 82 |
| Copyright: Other |
Would your partner make a good colleague?
If you are one of the travel industry’s many married couples, you may find it difficult to keep your personal and professional life separate. But there are ways to avoid falling out over work issues at home. Claire Purdy reports
WHEN Chauntry Corporation managing director Theresa Hughes had a boardroom disagreement with her work partner, she didn’t get mad – she went into the kitchen.One evening, after a minor disagreement at work, Theresa purposely threw in some extra hot chilli powder into Chauntry director Ray Vaughan’s supper.
Hughes enjoys her food hot and spicy but Vaughan, who, as well as being Hughes’ work partner is also her husband and the father of her two children, has a much more sensitive palate.
Most of the time, however, the couple adopt a much more professional approach to working and living together.
“We work at different ends of the office with plenty of staff in the middle and I’m also out of the office quite a lot which helps.”
Asked what are the advantages of working together, she said: “When things are going well you can both enjoy the good times. Also you can understand the pressures you are both under.”
There are disadvantages too. “When you get home and things aren’t going that well at work, you’re both stressed.”
A recent Mintel survey shows that 15% of couples meet at work, so Hughes and Vaughan are clearly not alone.
Other couples who run successful partnerships include St Andrew’s Travel director Andrew Dickson and his wife Pat, who is personnel director.
But do they manage to forget about the business once they walk out of the agency’s doors or does what’s going on at work end up to be the main topic of conversation over the dinner table?
“We recently had a fortnight’s holiday in Barbados and managed not to talk about work at all, which was something of a miracle for us.”
Hoda Lacey, senior partner at training company It’s All About People, said you can successfully juggle your work and private life if you follow these rules.
“It can work, and very often work well, but you have to work at it.
“You need to be able to set the boundaries between your personal domestic and work life.
“Of course, if you don’t work in the same department it is a lot easier, working side by side can be a lot harder.
“From a management perspective, problems can arise when people go to the opposite extreme and treat their spouses worse than other employees as they don’t want to be seen as giving preferential treatment to them.
“They can often be rude to their partner whereas they wouldn’t do this to other staff. This can be embarrassing and cause unnecessary tension in the office.
“You then sometimes get a situation where you have the ‘husband’ people and the ‘wife’ people which causes a divide of loyalties in the office.”
Double act: working with your partner can be both rewarding and highly demanding
Double act: working with your partner can be both rewarding and highly demanding
Trend setting: a recent Mintel survey shows 15% of couples meet at work