Love in the Office: Who Sparks the Most Workplace Romances?
It’s common for people to develop romantic relationships in the workplace. Spending a lot of time together, working towards the same goals, and sharing experiences can naturally lead to deeper connections. Engaging in playful banter by the coffee machine, sharing intense glances across the meeting room, and stealing moments of privacy during the work holiday party, it sometimes just happens. With full-time work clocking in at around 1,700 hours a year, it’s no surprise that workplace romances can crop up. Forbes reports that more than 60% of adults have experienced a romantic connection with a coworker.
Love Honey, a shop specializing in adult novelties, conducted a survey involving over 2,000 adults in the U.S. The poll explored workplace relationships, spanning from innocent flirting to passionate flings, and even long-term partnerships.
Who’s most likely to have a workplace romance?
Interestingly, their study found that people working in human resources (HR) are the most likely to have a workplace romance. After witnessing the potential chaos that can arise from office romances, one might assume that individuals in HR would avoid such entanglements.
Surprisingly, however, many HR professionals find themselves involved in workplace relationships. According to their survey, HR personnel surpass other industries in terms of flirting, having crushes, experiencing sex-related dreams, and engaging in romantic or sexual connections with colleagues. Both while single (70%) and while married (50%).
Among the married respondents (50%), 19% initiated romantic relationships with coworkers during this period, while 20% engaged in sexual relationships. Perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that 70% of surveyed HR employees who embarked on romantic relationships with coworkers while married did so with subordinates.
In a separate industry trend, those in finance are most likely to flirt, develop crushes, experience sex-related dreams, or establish romantic/sexual relationships with colleagues while already in a relationship (61%).
On the other hand, people in the legal field are most prone to engaging in workplace sexual relationships while already in a relationship (35%), while those in IT and telecommunications are most likely to have romantic affairs within the workplace (18%).
Take a look at some more interesting findings from the study here.
