HOW TO HANDLE A HOT COWORKER

Employee handbooks provide the blueprint for learning how to handle virtually every type of situation that arises in the workplace. You learn how to confront sexual harassment, as well as the proper way to file employee grievances. Pay periods, work schedules, and workplace grooming also comprise part of the comprehensive employee handbook. You even learn how to move up in the company by reading the employee handbook. For all of its information, employee handbooks leave out one crucial topic: How to handle a hot coworker.

Avoid Embarrassing Yourself

Outside of a drool cup, there really isn’t anything physical that helps you learn how to deal with a hot coworker. Science has not yet developed a tool that prevents your eyes from bugging out like one of Hanna Barbara’s cartoon characters. Yet, you can take steps to avoid embarrassing your self around a hot coworker. First, when you notice the hot coworker strolling through the office, keep your head down and count to 10. No, make that count to 100. Even getting a glimpse of a hot coworker puts you in a compromising position. Second, ask for the office cubicle that has the highest wall and make sure the wall doesn’t include glass. It’s easy to fog up glass, when you stare at a hot coworker. Finally, never take lunch at the same time as a hot coworker. Even better, never arrive or leave work at the same time.

Revisit the Employee Handbook

The mundane guide to workplace survival typically doesn’t include a section about “How to handle a hot coworker,” but it definitely has plenty of information on the consequences of inappropriate behavior. Merely gawking at a hot coworker has dire consequences, especially if the gawking goes on from early morning to late afternoon. Sexual harassment doesn’t need to involve physical interaction or verbal insults. It can simply involve behaviors that the hot worker deems offensive. Constantly remind yourself of the repercussions of handling a hot coworker inappropriately in the workplace, or for that matter, anywhere else that you meet.

Interact Professionally

How to handle a hot coworker doesn’t invariably mean that you have to run to the gym for a cold shower. In fact, one of the best ways to handle a hot coworker is to become acquainted with the coworker’s professional acumen by working on work projects together. After spending some time with a hot coworker that has it together professionally, the physical attractiveness component of your focus diminishes in lieu of a deep professional respect. Just make sure to keep cool under the collar.

Stay Busy

Nothing creates the potential to encourage inappropriate behavior at work more than sheer boredom. The minute the in basket goes empty, the temptation arises to get another glimpse of the hot coworker that sits three cubicles down from you. By staying busy, you prevent the mind from wandering to less noble thoughts. Ask for more work or take on projects not wanted by other coworkers. Not only do you avoid embarrassing yourself around a hot coworker, you also get in the good graces of your boss.

Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures

Let’s assume every strategy that you try on how to handle a hot coworker fails. Your boss refuses to relocate you to another cubicle because of the draft in your current cubicle. No matter how much work you assume, you still can’t get the hot coworker out of your mind. The time has arrived for desperate measures and one thing that you can do involves requesting to work more often from home. Make up an excuse such as the need to be home with the kids, even if you don’t have any kids. Without the hot coworker strolling by our cubicle, you should be able to get some work done.