With Valentine's Day just around the corner, watch out for Cupid's arrow at the office. Forty-three percent of U.S. workers reported they have dated a co-worker. Thirty-four percent of those who coupled up with a fellow employee said they ended up marrying their co-worker. One-in-ten respondents said they currently have their eye on someone at work who they would like to date in the near future. This is according to CareerBuilder.com's annual "Office Romance" survey, which was conducted between November 17 and December 11, 2006 and included 6,169 workers.

Thirty-four percent of workers said they had to keep their relationship with a colleague a secret. Twenty-two percent of workers admitted they have dated a colleague who was married, and 27 percent have dated someone who holds a higher position than they do in their organization. Fourteen percent have dated their boss.

Women were more likely than men to date someone higher in their company's hierarchy. Thirty-four percent of women said they have dated someone who holds a higher position in their organization; 21 percent of men admitted they have done the same.

"While office relationships are more accepted today than 10 or 20 years ago, workers need to remember to keep the romance off the clock," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com. "Maintain your professionalism at all times and don't let the relationship affect your performance at work. Seven percent of workers said they have left a job because of a romantic relationship with a co-worker."

Twelve percent of workers said their relationship with a colleague began when they ran into each other outside of work. Other top scenarios where office romances found their spark:

  --  At lunch (11 percent)
  --  Happy hour after work (10 percent)
  --  Late night working (9 percent)

  Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 6,169 workers (employed full-time; not self employed), ages 18 and over within the United States between November 17 and December 11, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

With a pure probability sample of 6,169, one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company , and The McClatchy Company , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,000 partners that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences. These include more than 150 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 250,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 19 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. Millions of job seekers visit the site every month to search for opportunities by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/.

  Media Contact:
  Jennifer Sullivan
  773-527-1164
  Jennifer.Sullivan@careerbuilder.com

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SOURCE: CareerBuilder.com