Work It Podcast: Should life partners be colleagues?

Being partners in both work and life may not be for every couple. But if you choose to work with your spouse, what boundaries should you have and how do you stay together through thick and thin?

Christel Goh, chief executive officer at Grow Public Relations, joins the Work It podcast with her husband Kelvin Teo, the chief operating officer at the same company.

Jump to these key moments:

• 6:17 Setting ground rules for work
• 9:23 Handling disputes in the office
• 14:37 When conversations become intense
• 17:19 Time to save the marriage
• 19:29 AMA: Managing your peers

Here's an excerpt from the conversation: 

Christel Goh: 

I remember there was one period where we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. And during that period, I remember we had this conversation where we said that the marriage comes above the business. Yeah, so even if the business fails, the thing that we have to hold on to is our marriage. So I think that is what to me is very clear.  

Tiffany Ang:

So if I were to play devil's advocate, I mean, I love that line that you said the marriage comes first, because I do also believe that, but you have 13, 14 people in your staff. So how do you navigate sort of their livelihoods as well, but also at the same time protecting your marriage? 

Christel:

I think from the start, right, we've always been very transparent with our team members as to how we're doing as a business. For example, at a team retreat recently, we talked about the financial situation of things. Like exactly how much revenue we're making, what our expenses (are), that kind of thing, right? So in that sense, I have never been afraid to say, “This is not a good month guys, and this is what we need to buck up on.” So I think from the team's perspective, they know that we are really putting in our all for certain aspects of work. But at the same time, also to be very cognizant of the fact that businesses fail, right? It happens regularly. So we should all have a backup plan.