Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Last year, BP faced an embarrassing incident when its former CEO, Bernard Looney, resigned from the board after it was found he had not been transparent enough about his personal relationships with colleagues.
Now the oil giant is trying to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
BP notified all employees last week that they must disclose any intimate relationships they have with colleagues or face disciplinary action, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
This could include dismissal in some circumstances. Reuters report.
The new policy also prohibits employees from “directly or indirectly managing relatives or people with whom they have a close relationship,” according to a memo to employees seen by Reuters.
BP has updated its code of conduct to reflect these changes.
The company also confirmed that it had instructed BI to tell thousands of senior executives to declare intimate relationships over the past three years by 1 September.
In a statement, BP told BI that, in contrast to its previous policy, employees must now report relationships whether they perceive a potential conflict of interest or not.
Previously, this was only required if you felt you had a conflict of interest.
The move comes as former C.E.O. Bernard Rooney leaves the club The company was indicted in September last year for failing to fully disclose details of a past “personal relationship” with a colleague.
BP began investigating Looney’s ties to colleagues in 2022 after receiving an anonymous tip.
The CEO was consulted during the process but later acknowledged that he had concealed some of the details about those relationships.
Bernard Looney was CEO of BP for more than three years.
Arun Sankar/Getty Images
The commission said his conduct amounted to “serious misconduct” and that Rooney lost his job and was forced to pay more than $40 million in compensation.
BP’s shares fell after his resignation and continue to underperform its peers. Looney was replaced by Murray Auchincloss, who took over as CEO in January.
While some organisations completely ban romantic relationships in the workplace, the majority simply don’t encourage it. Disclosure is often a key area, especially when it comes to staff, their assessors and managers.
“In most cases, just disclosing it will solve the problem,” Jonny C. Taylor Jr., CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, previously told Business Insider.
“It’s hard to have a disclosure policy and then tell someone, ‘If you disclose, you’re fired.'”
Do you work for BP or any other company with strict policies on workplace relationships? Contact this reporter. pthompson@businessinsider.com