Relationship Advice For Couples Who Work Together

Working with your partner brings unique rewards and challenges to the relationship. Having complementary work goals and career paths can be a point of connection between you. Sharing colleagues can be a way to foster external relationships as a pair. However, special considerations are needed in order to avoid the common pitfalls of couples who work together. The tips below will help ensure that the romantic aspects of your relationship remain grounded in romance, attunement, and satisfaction.

Tips for Couples Working Together

Have “Me” Time

Couples who work together tend to spend a significant portion of their time around one another. You and your partner likely see each other in the morning, at work, and in the evening. Even if you enjoy these interactions, having little time for yourself can be taxing. Maintaining a sense of individuality through independent friendships and activities is a crucial part of a successful relationship.

One way of creating space for “me” time is to commit to being apart on several evenings a week. This might look like spending one night catching up with a close friend. It might also look like scheduling a self-care activity, such as reading a book or a massage, to do solo. The more you invest in your wellbeing, the more energy you will have to invest in growing your connection with your partner.

Schedule Check-Ins with Your Partner

Having regular check-ins boosts your ability to communicate and develop healthy patterns with your partner. This is particularly true for couples who work together. Although you see each other throughout your days, discussions about topics that are impacting the relationship are easy to skip over when you are busy with other tasks. Check-ins provide a space to go deeper in regard to how you are both feeling as partners.
Topics to touch on during check-ins are your emotional states, your stress levels, finances, shared responsibilities, how you are approaching partnership, and how you are approaching being colleagues. Setting up a calm, neutral environment allows for a level of openness that builds greater understanding. Pent up resentments in the workplace or at home can be avoided by making the time to talk before issues get out of hand.

No Business Talk in the Bedroom

Taking the time to be intimate and affectionate is invaluable for couples who work together. You need time to put aside business talk, responsibilities, and projects in order to keep your relationship thriving. Your partner may be a trusted resource for gaining insight and coming up with new ideas related to work. When work talk leaks into the bedroom, the sexual and romantic components of your bond can suffer.

Establishing the separation between work and the bedroom means you and your partner holding one another accountable. Setting expectations and boundaries that work for both of you is a part of this process. These might sounds like:

• We will spend intimate time together without distraction three nights a week.
• We will spend 30 minutes decompressing after work so we can better focus on our partnership.
• The bedroom in our home is reserved for being intimate and discussing the romantic aspects of our relationship.
• Any work topics that come up can be written down and addressed during the workday.

Keep Personal Issues Out of the Workplace

Just as business issues can negatively impact your romantic life, personal issues can negatively impact your work life. Expectations and boundaries that work for both of you are also necessary in this area. These might sound like:

• If a personal issue comes up we will wait until an appropriate time after work to discuss it.
• We will not bring up personal issues we are having with colleagues.
• Personal issues that are happening at home get set aside when we enter our workplace.
• Personal issues we are facing do not affect any work or business decisions that we may need to make.

Remember that expectations and boundaries are not meant to feel forced upon or like a punishment to either party. They are meant to aid you in being the healthiest version of yourselves in the workplace, at home, and in other areas of life. Keeping personal issues out of the workplace is a way of cultivating communication patterns that give you and your partner the best opportunity to be seen and heard.

Develop an Appropriate Work/Life Balance

The various parts of your life can seem like they all blend together when you work with the person you are in a relationship with. If your relationship feels strained, there is less energy to invest in romance, or you feel dissatisfied with your working relationship, you might be struggling with work/life balance. Talking with your partner about ways to recenter what has been falling by the wayside can improve your connection and help you feel better overall.

Questions to be asking during discussions about work/life balance might include, “How are you feeling about the time we spend focused on work versus the time we spend focused on our relationship?” and, “What stressors are we carrying over from one area to another?” The more up front you are able to be with one another, the more capable you will be of finding an equilibrium that fits across the board.

Finding Help for Couples Who Work Together

Implementing the above principles can feel overwhelming. You and your partner may already have your plates full with the demands that day-to-day life can bring. Support for couples who work together is available to help you identify your challenges and create the changes you would like to see.

The Couples Center is in a unique position to help your relationship move through the nuances of being both a romantic and a collegial one. Founders Gal and Liron are a couple who came to work together as therapists. They enjoy discovering passion, fun, growth, and appreciation in their relationship while guiding others in doing the same. Offerings include:

Couples Retreat

A couples retreat is an excellent opportunity for couples who work together to draw focus back to partnership. You will explore the places you feel stuck, lost, and uncertain about your connection with one another. The private setting of a couples retreat lends itself to more individualized attention and the ability to quickly build upon new insights. Professionals will aid you in practicing the skills needed to uncover your potential and expand your connection.

Relationship Course

If you and your partner are always on the go, the self-paced relationship course may be for you. The course has an 8-week format that facilitates working through your patterns, learning to respond to one another’s needs, and strengthening passion. Couples who work together can utilize the course to improve communication and start feeling like a team again both at home and in the workplace.

Core Relationship Desire Quiz

Losing sight of your core wants, needs, and desires can go along with spending large amounts of time with your partner. It’s common for couples to work together to fall into the routines that come along with everyday tasks. Taking the time to find out what your core relationship desires are can help create greater excitement and fulfillment. You and your partner can use the quiz as a jumping off point for learning more about how you each want to feel in your relationship.

Couples Counseling

Engaging in couples counseling is a way for couples who work together to set aside time for discussing important topics. The neutral third party provided by the therapist sheds light on communication patterns and underlying issues that may have you feeling blocked. Your bond in your romantic life and in the workplace can grow as you begin to feel increased trust and ease with one another. Both in person and telehealth options are available in order to suit your needs.