Is it wrong to have a no dating policy for co-workers?

NO…In my younger days, dating was encouraged but that was to control you & keep you at work. Then the sexual harassment lawsuits started & it became very expensive. So, the rules changed to the NO dating policy.

They can have a policy, does not mean it will be followed.

No, it is not wrong. A policy is fine. Companies even have policies that if you do you need to declare it to HR.
A few reasons why this policy is in place in many organizations:
Sexual harassment
Favoritism
Workplace tension
Distractions
Low morale
Reduced productivity

Well dating coworkers can create a lot of stress and drama in the work place.

My mother met my stepfather at work. They worked for the same Federal agency. They dated for at least a year and were married for 8 months, with my mother wearing a wedding ring, before they told everyone that they were married. Then one of them had to go to another agency, and that was fine, and in accordance with the policy.

Nobody knew. It didn’t affect anything. I can see the reason for the policy, for the reasons above.

I met my first at Boeing Computer Services where we both worked. Our coworkers went all out when we got married.

For me, my position on this, has changed completely.

I used to support, the no dating co-workers concept.
However. Times have changed.
Nobody has the time to bar hop, or socialize. You meet most people, at work (in many cases.) Work, may (realistically,) be the best place to find a potential mate.

The company I worked for for over 30 years did not allow it for the first 20 or so years, but the policy changed. It had nothing to do with harassment or EEOC. An officer had been seeing a middle-management employee for a long time and took the case before the board and that was that. It’s the same as you get a red light at the dangerous intersection when an important city employee’s daughter gets killed where there should have been a traffic light.

At my work you are allowed to date coworkers but are not allowed to be in a supervisory position above the other person.

@RocketGuy…what happens if one of them gets promoted while they’re dating?

@Dutchess_III – one of them would have to make a sideways move to a different dept.

^That’s ridiculous.
We force people, to have to spend the majority of their lives working. They have to meet people somewhere.

I would understand, if there were some specific circumstances, or issues within the workplace that affect raises or promotions. Otherwise. Let people love, whomever they want.

Unfortunately people do weird shit when motivated by love and lust. Hence the company needing to create restrictive policies.

A company can make whatever policy they want, but cannot typically step beyond the workplace. Unless you count drug testing.

It can, without question, create problems. But. Unless a company would rather pay me a week’s pay, for a days work so I can have a social life, they’ll have to put up with it.

Even Fani Willis, the DA prosecuting a former president of the USA, in THAT setting, developed a relationship with a coworker.

A company can outlaw flowers all they want, but there will always be birds and bees….

Many companies have this policy, but as long as you act professional you are ok. As always, “One bad apple with spoil the whole barrel”.
By one estimate, over 60 percent of adults have participated in at least one workplace romance (Forbes, 2024).