How to Reject a Flirtatious Subordinate Without Being Reported
- 1). Show her the no-fraternization policy of your company handbook. This way, she will understand immediately that both of you can be fired for dating on the job. This step will work effectively as long as there is a no-fraternization policy or something about management dating subordinates. Corporate and legal offices tend to practice these policies more often than retail and labor settings.
- 2). Tell him that you are in a relationship. Assuming you really are in a relationship, this is not a lie. However, if you are not in a relationship, this is a tricky way to reject your flirtatious subordinate. Technically a friendship is a relationship, so as long as you have friends, you are in a relationship. It's not quite lying, and it does help you to avoid saying you're not interested in this person. The problem with stating you're not interested in someone who is interested in you and being single, especially at work, is that afterwards, that person may be extremely sensitive to criticism, especially coming from management. But if your subordinate believes your heart is somewhere else, he may back down.
- 3). Keep copies of any communication that you two have had, flirtatious or not flirtatious, but especially flirtatious communication. Make sure your comments back to her are professional. If, for some reason, she decides to threaten to report you because you will not go out with her, you have a paper trail to demonstrate you did nothing wrong.
- 4). Do not flirt back with your subordinate. In the end, if you are not interested in this subordinate at work but you flirt with him for fun, he may take you seriously. And if he takes you seriously, then when he does come on stronger and you reject him, it may look like you're playing mind games. Don't say anything to your flirtatious subordinate that you wouldn't say in front of a room full of other mangement team members or better yet, your manager.
- 5). Ask her politely to stop flirting with you. This is about as blunt a response as possible, and it makes it absolutely clear that you are not in favor of this behavior. The emphasis is on the polite part though. If you are hostile and declare, "Why would you think I liked you? You're the ASSISTANT!" that won't work. It might make your subordinate want to report you even more just for being insensitive. But if you say something like, "I'm not interested in pursuing a relationship at my job," you've made a statement about how you feel at work, how you feel about the person and where your standards are.
