Beware the pitfalls of office romance

Proper training can alert supervisors to issues that are born out of office romances but extend to more serious problems. The recent case of astronaut Lisa Nowak, accused of being obsessed with another astronaut to such an extent that she stalked and attacked a perceived romantic rival, might have been prevented if colleagues had been trained to tell supervisors about unusual behavior, Atkins said.

"My prediction on that case is that as news trickles out there will be reports of people knowing about a lot of cumulative behavior over time," she said. "There is a lack of reporting from employees on these issue. That's the high price of silence. The only way to get these addressed is to get at them early."