Would you find this weird?

[Papermacheman]

If you started a new job and someone on your team (but slightly more senior to you) was married to one of the managers in the dept. Is this actually allowed?

Is the manager their direct manager? Where I work (large company) there’s lots of married couples and regular couples. Unless one of the couple is a direct manager it’s no issue.

I work with a lot of people at work who are married to colleagues. I think the rule is they can’t directly line manage them. It’s never been an issue. A couple of people I didn’t realise were married for about 5yrs!

What do you mean by direct manager? I don’t think he does her hours/appraisals but he still manages an element of her work

@Papermachemandoes she report into him in terms of appraisals, pay discussions etc. In the organisational hierarchy does she report into him? If she wanted to book AL for example does he have to approve it?

Our work overlaps between teams in the company, overlapping work responsibilities wouldn’t be an issue.

No he doesn’t approve her A/L I don’t think

Why would it not be allowed? It’s different for all companies, wouldn’t be an issue at all in mine. What’s your problem with it?

Does it affect you somehow? If not, then I don't see the issue.🤷‍♀️

Unless it's effecting your work it's non of your business. Not sure what the issue is?

God I’m not saying I take issue…I’m just asking? I’ve never had this before. It doesn’t affect me, I’m just asking!!

Many years ago when I worked in a bank , this wasn't allowed , I guess it depends on individual companies policy.
Its not weird, is it affecting you?

It happens in lots of companies, as long as HR are aware then it’s completely fine.

Normally they would make sure that married couples are directly managing their spouse.

Yet it bothers you enough that you start a thread about it and call it weird.
I have encountered this a few times over my teaching career. It did not affect me so I ignored it. I suggest you do the same

@Papermacheman This is quite typical in my experience, and yes, the couple should never be direct reports to each other.

It's also normal to be involved with each others workload.

A/L, appraisals etc., would be a no-no as it would be regarded as a 'conflict of interest' (for obvious reasons). That said, dependent on the size of the company it could well vary, but the bigger the company, the less likely it would be allowed.

I dont see where its any of your business, who people are married to.

I think it depends on how they manage things and I agree would be different if one line managed the other. My son and DIL work for the same company albeit in different departments but on the same floor. Prior to them getting married no one even suspected they were in a relationship. It’s not an issue nor is it weird.

But you obviously think there's something wrong if you think it isn't allowed anywhere.

Anyway, you're wrong. As long as one isn't directly managing the other, then there's no problem. As I mentioned on another thread recently, there's at least 20 married couples in my company. It would be impossible to stop them all from interacting professionally by not allowing them to be in the same department.

I never said I wasn’t grateful right…I was asking “is it?” God can a person not ask an innocent question on here anymore!!
no it doesn’t directly affect me, I actually don’t care, I was just asking what others think etc as I had never seen this before.

You must care though, or you wouldn't have started a thread, you could have googled it. Do you feel like they are going to get preferential treatment?

Yes. It's allowed. I've worked in many Education jobs where a member of staff is married to a member of Senior Leadership/Head Teacher. They will manage their role in some way but they wouldn't be their direct line manager as others have stated due to conflict of interest.

No i don’t care, it’s not going to keep me up at night…I was curious

Thank you

Completely normal in my sector (legal) Everyone is related!!

If the senior person is their direct line manager, it's probably inappropriate.

Otherwise it's fine. I'm not sure what you'd expect the employer to do about it, really. Sack one of them? Make them get divorced? Presumably the employer is already aware that they're married and has put them into those roles regardless, so it must be OK with them.

It appears that being curious is a highly suspicious trait on MN.

I wouldn’t find that weird at all. Lots of married couples work for the same company or same industry.