Good Morning America’s “love birds” Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes have been taken off the air following the revelation of their alleged romance and “secret love” that has been going on for months.

An insider from ABC News said that while the relationship is not a violation of company policy, people at the helm have taken the last few days to think about the rumored liaison between the two news anchors and are trying to figure out what is best for the ABC News organization. And so, for now, I am going to take Amy and TJ off the air, while we figure this out,” an ABC News official said.

“We can’t operate with gossip, and speculation and rumors,” the ABC News official added. “We need to stay focused on the work.”

The move comes after the Daily Mail last week reported the two anchors have secretly engaged in a months-long romance, at the same time, publishing photos of the pair together. Well, this is what does I love you mean?

However, theirs is certainly not the first romantic relationship to develop between two anchors. Morning Joe co-anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski kept their relationship under wraps for some time, even though it had been rumored about, before announcing their engagement in 2017.

Workplace romance is inevitable

In ordinary workplaces and in offices where non-celebrities report from 8-5, secret relationships and clandestine romances are usual. They are common staples of office gossip among fellow workers that make office lunches and coffee breaks more exciting.

 Amie Gordon, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, US, who studies the psychology of relationships says that a workplace is a prime place for two key drivers for attraction to develop. Working and being with someone in an environment like the workplace “very likely could lay the ground for romance, because of all the factors we know that contribute to romance — intimacy and familiarity,” she added.

The more a person sees something (or someone), the more they are inclined to like it. This favoring of familiarity is a psychological bias called the mere-exposure effect. “Just seeing someone repeatedly” can lead to attraction, says Gordon.

Is this what happened to Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes? And to the thousands of employees who have developed “secret alliances” with their colleagues? Companies does not relationship issues at work.

Several HR experts have come to an agreement that trying to forbid workplace romances is not sensible and is pointless. “Banning all romances is not realistic. People will find a way,” says attorney Julie A. Moore, SHRM-SCP, president of the Wellesley, Mass.-based HR consulting firm Employment Practices Group.

Harsh policies about office romances will either drive relationships underground or will make people look elsewhere for employment, HR professionals say.

“Do they really want to lose talent?” Moore asks. “In this day and age, talent is scarce.”

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Workplace romances

SHRM conducted a recent survey about workplace romance between colleagues and the survey found that only 40% of US workers find workplace romance unprofessional. On the contrary, 84% of US workers say that they respect or would respect their colleagues if they are in a secret romance within the workplace. Can companies define what love is and define relationship?

Whether it’s attraction, real love, a one-time thing, familiarity, or intimacy that’s driving Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes to each other’s arms, it is a fact that they are happy. That’s what’s important and nobody has the right to take away that happiness from them for whatever reason.

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Sources: shrm.org. bbc.com. deadline.com. cnn.com