CareerBuilder recently surveyed close to 4,000 workers for their annual Valentine’s Day Survey and The Vault conducted an office romance survey recently as well. The bottom line is that there’s a lot of office romance going on from hook ups to steady dating to marriage proposals. Here are some of the stats from the surveys.
CareerBuilder Survey
- Close to 40 percent of workers say they have dated someone they have worked with over the course of their career and 10% have done so over the past year.
- 65 percent of workers say they aren’t keeping their workplace romance a secret.
- 12 percent reported that their relationships started when they ran into each other outside of work.
Vault Survey
- 33 percent reported having a tryst in the office; 4 percent report being caught.
- 37 percent said they would participate in an office romance again.
- 65 percent reported that the shaky economy has no effect on whether they would pursue an office romance or not.
Office romances happen for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s about getting ahead or seeking revenge on another person or adding some excitement to life. Other times it’s simply a distraction or a way to avoid problems in an existing relationship. Romance can bloom simply because being with someone from the office is just plain convenient. It happens….a lot.
Over the years, I’ve conducted my own random surveys about office romances (asking friends if they have every dated someone they worked with) and I even wrote a research paper about office romances in graduate school ( how could I pass up that opportunity?) The statistics then were pretty much the same. Office romances aren’t going away. Can they cause problems? Certainly. But sometimes they work out. And I’m a sucker for those stories, especially on Valentine’s Day. Have a great office romance story? Would love to hear about it here.