OK, so which is it? Is "dating" someone you work with OK or not OK? Depends on who you listen to.
Or in this case, which survey results support your position on the matter.
CareerBuilder does an annual office romance survey right around Valentine's Day. This year's research reveals that almost four in 10 worker bees have honeyed up to someone else in their company, and 16 percent of those are serial office romancers.
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The sample size was kind of like one of those drug store chocolate candy boxes: lots of people (more than 3,000) from diverse workplace and demographic backgrounds shared their office romantic experiences.
Does office romance lead to marriage? Of those who said they'd dated a coworkers, 31 percent said it led to the blissful state of marriage.
Of those, one in five reported that one of them was married to someone else at the time.
Three-quarters of workplace Lotharios (and Lotharias) said they dated a peer, while the other quarter was makin' whoopie with a higher-up. "Only 3 percent of workers who have had an office relationship said the relationship helped them progress in their career," CareerBuilder reported.
Which industries have the greatest incidence of office romances? Here's the list:
- Leisure and Hospitality (57 percent)
- Utilities (51 percent)
- Information Technology (46 percent)
- Transportation (42 percent)
- Financial Services (38 percent)
- Retail (35 percent)
- Manufacturing (35 percent)
- Healthcare (32 percent)
- Business Services (26 percent)
CareerBuilder found that 39 percent of those involved in an office romance keep it on the down-low from co-workers, and 43 percent of those having an inside fling pretended they weren't when the lovebirds ran into co-workers unexpectedly outside the work environment.
So how office do people at work get that fateful heart-pounding rush of love at first sight? Only 9 percent reported that they recognized their soulmate upon the first glance over their cubicle divider. Happy hour was actually a better romance facilitator (11 percent), but after all, that's why they call it happy.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
