Private firms don’t condone spouses working in same departments

Most private organisations take a tough view of spouses working in the same department. However, over time, the rule has been relaxed, especially after a realisation that their relationship may not necessarily affect their work.

But, Ms Pauline Kiraithe, the Training and Career Development manager at Nation Media Group, lauded the move to have only one spouse working in any given firm at a time. Ms Kiraithe said though it was a “policy matter, it is dangerous for spouses to work in the same organisation, so much so when one supervises the other.”

“If one works in human resources department while the other works in finance, in case of a scandal, it would be difficult for one to sack the other... the whole thing is not good,” the manager said. Another human resource expert Helen Mbugua, said that the circular was akin to “forced dismissal which is illegal.”

Ms Mbugua, a former HR director at a regional media house said the government had to have concrete reasons for coming up with such a circular. She added that some private companies do condone couples working together as this enhances loyalty to the employer.

“Of course workplace relationships do affect productivity, but then it is the management’s problem to see how to handle the matter, but sacking them is not an option,” Ms Mbugua said.

She said retraining or transferring one of the spouses to a different parastatal was a viable option. Another human resource manager in a private company who declined to be named because she is not authorised to speak to the media, said they had to review a similar policy because in some cases the work of one of the spouses did not affect the other.