[Kequc]

If the woman is attracted to you then she expects you to make a romantic gesture. If you don't she's hurt. If she's not attracted then such a gesture could hurt her. Policies like no dating is a lot to do with protecting women in the workplace from having to go out of their way expressing themselves. A much better policy could be everyone has to make their intentions clear.

[lutusp]

> A much better policy could be everyone has to make their intentions clear.

Easily said, but impossible to put into practice. Have you ever tried to get a woman to make her intentions clear? Apart from being seen as insulting, it's an impossible condition to place on social interactions between men and women, where a woman's inalienable right to be vague and ambiguous is an essential component of the dating game.

[Kequc]

I thought you were going to go a different direction with that. All joking aside I really feel like the policies outlined in the op wreak of "apparently nobody in this company is mature enough to engage in what all adults engage in and we selfishly don't want to have to let people go due to their emotional unpreparedness."

Which is possible given that a lot of the most promising developers are young, I still don't agree with it. People need to be able to make mistakes and corporate culture is strangling them.