He's saying that fewer people will form relationships if that policy is in place. Anyone with management experience knows that prohibitions are never followed 100%. It doesn't mean that they're useless. They minimize the incidence of the undesirable activity.
Believe it or not, there are some people with discipline and emotional control out there. Romance is not an unstoppable force (despite what Hollywood wants you to believe). In the presence of a prohibition on office romance, parties who take their job seriously will employ personal restraint and refrain from engaging in office romance.
"Telling people they're not allowed to do something just makes them hide it" is a tired and frankly juvenile argument. Yes, it's true that in some cases, which, generally speaking, are fairly rare (depending on what you're prohibiting), people will continue to break the rules and hide it. But many people will choose to avoid the risk altogether and follow the rules.
Believe it or not, there are some people with discipline and emotional control out there. Romance is not an unstoppable force (despite what Hollywood wants you to believe). In the presence of a prohibition on office romance, parties who take their job seriously will employ personal restraint and refrain from engaging in office romance.
"Telling people they're not allowed to do something just makes them hide it" is a tired and frankly juvenile argument. Yes, it's true that in some cases, which, generally speaking, are fairly rare (depending on what you're prohibiting), people will continue to break the rules and hide it. But many people will choose to avoid the risk altogether and follow the rules.