WHEN A COLLEAGUE IS MAN IN YOUR LIFE

When a colleague is the man in your life An office romance can be more than just a fling. Catherine Quinn talks to three women whose partners in the workplace are also their partners in life GOOD morning, Mr Jones."

"Good morning, Mrs Jones."

For some people the idea of working alongside their partner is sheer heaven, for others purgatory.

Romantic relationships in the workplace are now more common than ever: a poll by international recruitment agency Monster showed that 43 per cent of people have had an office romance - and only 24 per cent see it as unprofessional.

The experts are not always as encouraging. Dr Jan Yager is a workplace consultant and author of Business Protocol: How to Survive and Succeed in Business, and has conducted extensive studies into office relationships.

"Based on my research, casual friendships - not close or best - are much easier to deal with in business. However, wellmanaged close or best friends are still possible."

Yager advises couples contemplating an office dalliance to discover if there are any company policies they should know about beforehand. "If the romance is between a superior and subordinate, you have to find out if your company will allow it. In my interviews about workplace romance, I found that most managers - as long as both partners are single, unattached and at the same level - are concerned only that the romantic relationship does not hamper productivity."

Even such "appropriate" work-based relations are viewed negatively by some companies, and there is no legislation directly covering the rights of employees. As Jennifer Tomlinson of the Equal Opportunities Commission says: "It is not illegal for two people to have a relationship within the workplace. However, if the employer thinks the relationship encroaches on certain aspects of work performance, they are within their rights to terminate a worker's contract."

Alison Rose and Tony Guy ALISON and Tony are the joint founder- owners of Luscious Foods, a chain of 13 low-fat, organic cafs, restaurants and supermarkets. "We were drawn to working as a team because we had a proven history of success together with our other businesses," Rose says. "We have complementary skills and the ability to section off elements of work and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"If you want a good working business relationship between husband and wife, be prepared for arguments and disagreements. Be prepared for absolute success or absolute failure. Put time aside for each other. We failed to do this in the past and we suffered as a result. Realise what you are taking on - it changes your life."

They are keen to promote ethical produce, she says. "We were drawn to the industry by the grotesque events that came about due to food scares. We had a sense that because of our backgrounds [in the media] we could do good things.

Ultimately, we enjoyed a unified goal and a desire to establish a concept which would bring about change in the way people purchase products. We have come up with a range of other business ideas which we plan to implement globally."

Mehernosh and Sherin Mody SHERIN and Mehernosh ("Nosh") work together running La Portes des Indes restaurant just off Marble Arch. As Sherin Mody explains, working as a team has brought them greater success than they achieved as individuals. "We were both chefs until I got married, which later prompted me to hang up my whites and move towards front of house. Today, Nosh is the head chef and I am the general manager of the restaurant. To work alongside Nosh was a fantastic opportunity as he is someone I know I could put my utmost faith in, so he was my natural choice as a working partner. It is hospitality that we enjoy and find gratifying, besides being able to compete with each other in a professional environment.

"We have also just finished writing a cook book together, which is to be published later this year. This entailed travelling around India to research original recipes, but it also gave us a chance to catch up with friends and family.

"The disadvantages of working together are that we never go out on New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day. My partner is my greatest strength and also my greatest weakness, and that is something we have to learn to live with.

Sometimes we push each other more than necessary, so that others who work with us don't feel that we share any less of the workload than normal."

Julia Barfield and David Marks DAVID and Julia jointly run Marks Barfield Architects in south-west London. The firm has an excellent reputation, having designed the London Eye and won Architectural Practice of the Year in 2001.

"Deciding to work together was a gradual process," says Julia. "We met at college, so we've been together a very long time. Initially, Mark was working for Richard Rogers and I was working for Norman Foster, and then Mark was commissioned to work on the Lloyds building. He did this for seven years, and after we had our first child it seemed a natural time for both of us to set up together.

"There are quite a few advantages - particularly in terms of flexibility and child care. It is always a difficult question of how you combine work with children, and being together gave us a certain amount of flexibility. We grew together, and this happened professionally as well."

She explains what drew them to the profession. "It was the fact that architecture is such a wonderful combination of art and science. I resisted the tendency of our education system to say you have to do one or the other and luckily I went to a school which allowed me to combine the two.

Mark felt the same, although he was drawn more to the engineering side."

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