Some heartwarming news in time for Valentine’s Day: Nearly one of three workplace romances ends up at the altar.
According to CareerBuilder’s annual office romance survey, 31% of employees in at-work amour ended up in matrimony.
Last week, we ran a Special Report on the hassle of handling romance at work. Now we’ve got a handle on just how common it is.
According to CareerBuilder, 38% of workers have dated a co-worker at least once over the course of their career; 17% reported dating co-workers at least twice.
Upward mobility
While the majority of relationships developed between workers in comparable job levels, 28% of workers who dated a co-worker said they have dated someone above them in the company hierarchy, and nearly one in five (18%) admitted to dating their boss.
Women were more likely to date someone higher up in their organization – 35% compared to 23% of men.
Which industries lead the romance race? Here’s a rundown:
- Hospitality – 47% dated a co-worker
- Financial Services – 45%
- Transportation & Utilities – 43%
- Information Technology – 40%, and
- Healthcare – 38%.
Where do these relationships get started? Social settings outside of the office were cited most often in regard to workers connecting on a romantic level.
Running into each other outside of work (13%), happy hours (12%), lunches (11%) and late nights at work (10%t) were among the most popular catalysts for dating co-workers.
Finally, do they kiss and tell? Most workers who have had office romances said they were open about their dating situation. Thirty-seven percent reported they had to keep the relationship under wraps.
The survey involved more than 7,000 workers nationwide and was conducted by Harris Interactive between Nov. 9 and Dec. 5, 2011.
