Transparency of personal relationships at work - line manager guide

This policy promotes openness about personal relationships that may affect professional boundaries, decision-making, or perceptions of fairness.

As a manager, your role is to support disclosures with sensitivity and uphold fairness across your team.

Line manager responsibilities

• Create a safe, non-judgmental space for disclosures
• Handle disclosures confidentially and refer to HR
• Avoid assumptions or gossip
• Declare your own relevant relationships
• Support fair decision-making and team dynamics

What to declare

Relationships that may require disclosure include:

• Romantic or sexual relationships
• Close friendships
• Family ties (including by marriage or civil partnership)
• Financial relationships or shared living arrangements

Disclosures are needed if the relationship involves:

• A direct reporting line
• Influence over hiring, promotion, or disciplinary decisions
• Shared responsibility for performance reviews or workload
• Responsibility for marking, assessing or supervising a student

Responding to a disclosure

• Thank the employee for their openness and reassure them of confidentiality
• Avoid probing for personal details which are not relevant to how to consider and manage the shared close relationship – this is about how to support this at work
• Any known vulnerability of the student or staff member
• The student’s or colleague’s personal circumstances at the time
• Whether there is a supervision or teaching arrangement in place at the time
• The circumstances of the student when the close personal relationship commenced or was initiated (for example, if the personal relationship existed prior to the staff/student relationship)
• Any special family, kinship and elder relationships
• The nature of the two individuals’ contact in study, research or employment
• The potential for the staff member to influence the academic progress and outcomes or career progression of the student or colleague
•  The extent of the power imbalance between the two individuals
• Refer the disclosure to HR

How to manage conflicts of interest

• Consider if you can adjust reporting lines or responsibilities if needed
• Discuss options with the person(s) involved about these adjustments
• Ensure impartial decision-making
• Monitor team morale and address concerns proactively

Under the Office for Students’ Condition E6, we’re committed to creating a safe, respectful environment for everyone. If you’ve experienced or witnessed harassment or sexual misconduct, please visit our Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Hub to report it confidentially and get support.

Transparency builds trust. Your leadership makes it possible.