It's that time of year, when nobody can escape the heart-shaped candies, sappy love cards and images of cute, chubby babies flying around with bows and arrows. Love is in the air around Valentine's Day and the workplace is not immune! Four-in-ten (40 percent) workers say they have dated a co-worker at sometime during their careers, with 20 percent admitting to doing it more than twice, according to CareerBuilder.com's annual office romance survey of more than 6,700 workers. Close to three-in-ten (29 percent) workers said they went on to marry the person they dated at work.
Comparing age groups, workers aged 55 and older were least likely (34 percent) to say they have dated a co-worker during their careers, while 44 percent of workers aged 35-44 were the most likely to have done so.
Workers aren't just interested in dating their peers. Twenty-seven percent of workers admit they have dated someone with a higher position in their organization; female workers more so than males, at 37 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Ninety-eight percent of workers said their relationship with someone at work did nothing to progress their career.
"Dating a co-worker appears to be more accepted in the office these days with 66 percent of workers saying they do not have to keep their romances a secret at work," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. "It is important to remember to always maintain the highest level of professionalism when dating a co-worker and keep any conflicts that may arise outside the office."
Romance between co-workers rarely begins in the actual office, with 13 percent of workers saying their relationships began when they ran into each other outside of work. Other situations where office romances found their spark included:
-- Happy hour (11 percent) -- At lunch (11 percent) -- Working after-hours together (10 percent) -- Love at first sight (10 percent) -- Company office party (2 percent)
The survey also showed repercussions with six percent of workers saying their office romance drove them to leave their job.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the US by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 6,704 US employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) ages 18 and over within US between November 13 and December 3, 2007, respectively. 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. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of U.S. employees, and propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
With a pure probability sample of 6,704 and one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.3% 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. A full methodology is available upon request.
About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc.
Media Contact: Michael Erwin 773-527-3637Michael.Erwin@CareerBuilder.com
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SOURCE: CareerBuilder.com
CONTACT: Michael Erwin of CareerBuilder.com, +1-773-527-3637,
Web site: http://www.careerbuilder.com/