Bernard Looney, the now former CEO of BP, joined a not-so-exclusive club this week as a male chief executive ousted from their role for inappropriate behaviour. After failing to fully disclose personal relationships with colleagues to the board, Looney told the firm that he had not been “fully transparent” about past relationships, accepting he was “obligated to make [a] more complete disclosure”.
As reported in this paper, one source said Looney’s relationships were an open secret at the company, and another said there had been “plenty of stories about his relationships with colleagues and it had been “going on for years”.
Romantic relationships in the workplace aren’t new, with a recent YouGov survey showing nearly a fifth of Brits met their current or most recent partner at work. While many HR departments encourage, and in some cases require, employees to share details of in-work relationships confidentially, what sets this situation apart is seniority. The more senior the person is, the more likely it is that the repercussions will keep coming, not just for the individuals in question but for the business more widely, be it a loss of investor confidence or damage to corporate reputation. Not to mention the internal resource, from HR all the way to the boardroom, that needs to be dedicated to first responding to allegations and then attempting to clean up the reputational mess.
BP has disclosed no details about the employees said to have had personal relationships with Looney. We do not know whether they reported directly to him.
However, relationships between senior leaders and their direct line reports cannot be seen as a grey area. They are profoundly inappropriate and create ethical and legal concerns.
Unequal power dynamics can leave organisations open to allegations of abuse of authority and favouritism towards colleagues.
That Looney appears to have engaged in more than one work-based relationship sends a worrying signal about the blurred lines between work and personal life, which speaks to BP’s corporate culture. A string of work-based relationships is not the message that should be emanating from the corner office of a CEO who oversees a modern company and speaks openly about being guided by values. Looney had said previously that BP’s code of conduct, which includes guidance on organisational culture and challenging inappropriate behaviour, was “at the foundation of all that we do in our roles”.
These events prove again that company culture cannot be just a slogan, or a nice holding slide on a PowerPoint presentation, it must be central to how people are treated, how leaders should act in the businesses’ best interest and, crucially, how bad behaviour is seen and dealt with.
Looney’s relationships were allegedly raised via BP’s internal whistleblower hotline, OpenTalk. While this shows how effective independent complaints processes can be, questions remain about governance procedures. Looney joined BP in 1991, aged 21, and had spent his entire career at the company. Given his history with the company, it’s worth asking how thorough the screening and vetting process during the CEO interview really was?
What policies were in place during the hiring process? What questions were asked and what expectations – and limitations – were set?
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When comparing the level of bad behaviour required to cost a string of male CEOs their jobs – from BP to McDonald’s to Intel where workplace affairs led to their downfalls – versus the recent resignation of NatWest’s former chief Dame Alison Rose over the Coutts scandal, it’s hard not to feel that the bar of failure for men is considerably higher than for women.
The only glimmer of progress in this story is that a generation ago, or perhaps even just prior to the 2017 #MeToo moment, it would have been the more junior women who would have been accused of using their sexuality to advance their career. At least today’s version turns the spotlight where it belongs – on the power imbalance in that corner office.
These high-profile cases grab our attention and distract the firms involved, thrusting them into crisis management mode. But they pose a wider challenge for all organisations across the country, whether big or small. Behaviour matters and it should be in line with your company’s values. Get that wrong and there will be a bigger price to pay, not just for the individuals involved but for the organisation. BP is just the latest example of how reputational damage could linger long after those involved have gone.
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Ann Francke is the chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute
