It is generally the case that as a small org grows (and grows up) workplace problems grow with it, and so HR eventually develops clear policies of what is and is not allowed. If you catch an org in its awkward teen phase, then the problems can already be significant, but the rules are not yet adopted. Polyamory as a non-conventional arrangement breaks a number of Chesterton-Schelling fences, with both unexpected and predictable consequences. “Predictable” in a sense that we know that something unaccounted for would backfire, “unexpected” because we rarely know in advance what exactly it will be. Larger organizations find ways to mitigate the damage and create new fences… which eventually turn into Chesterton’s fences as people forget or discount the reasoning behind them, and into Schelling fences where something becomes a shared norm. And then the cycle begins anew.
It is generally the case that as a small org grows (and grows up) workplace problems grow with it, and so HR eventually develops clear policies of what is and is not allowed. If you catch an org in its awkward teen phase, then the problems can already be significant, but the rules are not yet adopted. Polyamory as a non-conventional arrangement breaks a number of Chesterton-Schelling fences, with both unexpected and predictable consequences. “Predictable” in a sense that we know that something unaccounted for would backfire, “unexpected” because we rarely know in advance what exactly it will be. Larger organizations find ways to mitigate the damage and create new fences… which eventually turn into Chesterton’s fences as people forget or discount the reasoning behind them, and into Schelling fences where something becomes a shared norm. And then the cycle begins anew.