Business Relationship Advice Column Dear Janice, Due to a drastic turnover of staff, there is a relationship problem, in the office. I really began to notice it was a problem when the remaining co-workers began holding their own meetings outside of the scheduled staff meetings. Then angry emails were being passed between co-workers. I think the main troubled relationship involves the brother who was hired this month and the sister who still remains before the turnover. They continually fight and bicker. I'm an employee who mainly does data entry, but it is really distracting when they are throwing paper airplanes at each other or shouting loud enough to hear. Janice, as a human resource specialist who is trained to handle office politics, what do you think I should do? Sincerely, Frustrated Co-worker Dear Frustrated Co-worker, I see how you must be frustrated. Even one relationship problem at work can cause a landslide of issues and relationship problems with a lot of people. I would suggest you ask if you could ask either of them separately to leave their issues at the door before they came to work. Let them know that their troubled relationship is affecting everyone at work. Tell them that you do not like the way they treat each other while they are around you. If that doesn't work, consult your H.R. personnel. They should be trained in how to handle troubled relationships and know how to communicate Communication in Relationships effectively. If your H.R. personnel are not available, consult your superior. Volunteer to move to another area until the situation is solved. If you are too worried about confronting your superior about it, write a letter with examples of what has been going on. As always, you can always buy my book How to Communicate Effectively for more advice. Sincerely, Janice Dear Janice At the business that I work for, we had a managers meeting on how to communicate effectively with our co-workers. We used your book, How to Communicate Effectively as advice at our meeting. I want to tell you we had a miraculous success story happen right inside our office! We had several troubled relationships among bitter co-workers and at least one relationship problem that involved an office romance love triangle. With your book, How to Communicate Effectively, we were able to work it out as a team. I don't think there will be any further problems. The relationship problem with the love triangle decided to split up and move to different parts of the office, which you suggested. Work is so much better now. There is not so much tension in the office or in the break room when the three of them are in there at one time, because they moved to different areas of the office, they are not as distracted as they once were. Thank you and your book for helping our office become more efficient through fewer distractions in the work place. Since all the people involved have created space between them, one of the women now has another boyfriend- things are great! Sincerely, Happiest Cubical Dweller Dear Happiest Cubical Dweller, Thank you for your kind words. So glad to hear, as I often do about all of the ways my book, How to Communicate Effectively helps troubled relationships and relationship problems. I always recommend the chapter on Communication in Relationships and The Importance of Communication, as great ways to solve relationship problems. When relationships are not going well in the office, everything suffers. People are distracted, self esteem is low and therefore performance at work suffers. When people have meetings and are encouraged to share how they feel about inner work relations, everyone feels better. Glad I could help! Sincerely, Janice