Office romance leads to marriage in 20 per cent of cases
While Valentine's Day may be over for another year, romance in the office is far from dead.
The annual office romance survey from online job site CareerBuilder.ca found 34 per cent of 577 Canadian workers surveyed have dated a colleague at some time during the careers, with 14 per cent saying they have dated two or more different co-workers.
Of those who have dated a co-worker, 20 per cent have gone on to marry their office paramour.
"Workers spend more than 40 hours per week with their co-workers, which in some cases can lead to relationships," said Remy Piazza, managing director of CareerBuilder Canada.
"While workplace relationships may be more accepted these days, with 75 per cent of workers saying they didn’t have to keep their romance a secret, it's still important for workers to keep it professional and not let their relationship impact their work or the work of others."
The survey also found 13 per cent of male respondents currently work with someone they would like to date, while only five per cent of women are interested in seeing a colleague outside of the office.
Respondents gave several reasons for how their relationships were sparked at work, including love at first sight, happy hour socializing, running into each other outside of work and working late together.
But office romance can have its dark side, with five per cent of those who have dated a co-worker reporting they left a job due to an office romance.
