BP PLC (LSE:BP.) has told its managers to own up to any liaisons with colleagues or face the sack.
After former chief executive Bernard Looney stepped down last September following an affair with a colleague, the FTSE 100 giant has introduced a new policy ordering staff to come clean about inter-office relationships.
According to the rules, managers can no longer oversee anyone with whom they have been in a close relationship, including family members.
Another 4,500 managers have been given until 1 September to disclose any office affairs from the past three years.
A BP spokesman told Reuters that new rules mean employees must disclose colleague relationships in all circumstances, regardless of whether they felt they posed a conflict of interest.
Looney’s shock resignation stemmed from him allegedly not being honest about a workplace relationship when he was first interviewed for the chief executive job.
When asked again three years later BP said he had given “inaccurate and incomplete assurances”.
Looney ultimately lost £32 million in remuneration because of because of “serious misconduct”.
New CEO Murray Auchincloss is married to a fellow BP employee, a relationship he disclosed before becoming chief financial officer in 2020, according to the report.
“Following the refresh of BP’s code of conduct in January 2023, our conflicts of interest policy was scheduled for review this year – it was last updated in 2018,” a BP spokesman told Reuters.
“The update that has been made follows the review, which included benchmarking with comparable companies and organisations and review of good industry practice.”