“People that cheat in the personal life will also cheat in their business life.”

Natalie Dawson, who co-founded Cardone Ventures, opened up about her policy during an appearance on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast.

The 32-year-old's interview went viral after she revealed her decision to sack two employees who were having an affair.

“One of things I have gotten so much criticism about online was when I publicly shared a TikTok about firing somebody because I found out she was cheating on her significant other and the other person also had a significant other,” she said.

“As soon as I found out about it, I terminated both of them immediately.”

Dawson confirmed that neither of her employee's partners also worked for her company, but said she made the decision “as soon as I caught wind of it."

She said that she couldn't have employees behaving like that in a work environment, something that Bartlett challenged. He suggested that some may think it was “none of (her) business" what goes on in her employees' personal lives.

However, Dawson revealed that the affair did “happen around work," although she refused to go into more details.

She said that even if it wasn't related to work, she would still “fire the person immediately" if she knew they were cheating on their partner.

“If they are going to cheat on the person they are supposed to spend the rest of their life with, do you think they are cheating on their work? That person is a liability to the environment,” she said.

Bartlett contested this, saying people in their personal lives can be “very different to the way they show up professionally.”

“People do all kinds of things in their personal life. I don’t consider that to be my business,” he said.

However, Dawson insisted it was “absolutely my business” if someone has an issue in their personal life.

She said that she can't separate personal and professional lives, as everything at home can “bleed over into our environment.”

The clip has gone viral, and has been seen over 1.7 million times since going live.

Some commenters dubbed the businesswoman's stance as “utterly controlling”.

“What people do outside of hours of work is no concern to companies or corporations. They don’t have the power to dictate how you live your life outside of the eight hours you owe them a day,” another person said.

However, others saw merit in Dawson's argument.

“Workplace affairs bring unnecessary tension, unwanted attention, and chaos when discovered or when they end. Taking part in one speaks volumes about a person’s integrity,” one person wrote.

Another penned: “People that cheat in the personal life will also cheat in their business life.” 

While a third said that a “person who lacks honesty and integrity is not an employee I’d want in my company either.”