Washington, May 20 (ANI): Having an affair with a co-worker, but fearing that it might land your job in trouble? Well, now you can hide that office romance by following only a few tips.

Here is a set of guidelines on how to conceal your passionate office romp:

Don’t change your routine

The best way to conceal an office romance and cast a protective shell around your new relationship is to maintain your schedule throughout the work day. Nothing should change. People always notice significant changes in routine, especially if they’re the gossipy office types, so avoid doing anything out of the ordinary. This means no lunches with your new partner — especially if you’ve never been known to socialize with this person on a friendly basis before.

Keep it to yourself

You may have a few close friends at work with whom you really want to share the events of your recent hookup, but you can’t give in to this urge. This is a very crucial rule to follow when you want to conceal an office romance. Don’t brag to them in your office and send them away with a vow never to tell anyone. It’s acceptable to tell friends or family who don’t work in the office, but you better make damn sure they have no possible connection to your workplace.

Don’t document it

There are a number of ways to conceal an office romance while communicating with your love during the workday. You might think you can get away with sending 100 e-mails back and forth every day, but do not use your business address. Most companies have internal servers that can track any and all e-mails sent between employees, and if anybody over in IT happened to look, they would find more than enough evidence to convict.

Restrict yourself to cell phone texts and voice mail—anything that has a chance of being seen by a co-worker isn’t worth the risk, reports Askmen.com.

Avoid attending office social gatherings together

The biggest problem with the office Christmas party and happy hour at the local bar is that two factors that could out you are involved: alcohol and gossip. Even if the two of you are never within 10 feet of each other at one of these get-togethers, you’re still taking a relatively big risk. You always have to be careful in the office to conceal an office romance, but you can’t imagine how precarious an employee social gathering can be. All it takes to set off a rumour wildfire is one slightly tipsy secretary who asks a particular question, and your answer can be interpreted in a variety of ways. So, the best thing to do is maintain the “Don’t change your routine” philosophy because purposeful avoidance is just as big a tip-off as always going to social functions together would be.

Don’t let it affect your work

You can send a few lovey-dovey messages via your cell phone, or exchange a brief kiss in the stairway, but you can’t let this relationship affect your work. First of all, you didn’t get to where you are by shirking your daily duties, and second, you’re already risking your future at the company simply by being with this person. If anything, work harder to compensate for your transgression, which may give you a slight edge if anybody ever finds out.

Loving 9 to 5

While an office romance is a very common occurrence and not quite as taboo as it once was, many hurdles remain. The workplace still presents a lot of grey area when it comes to romantic excursions between employees, so in order to play it safe, it’s often best to keep your little fling under wraps. Pay close attention to the little giveaways that leave you open to suspicion. (ANI)