Who's Finding Romance at Work?

February 14, 2016

Maybe it’s because they don’t need to flirt in the office when they have a million apps that can connect them with the potential love of their life, but Millennials are the least likely to date someone at work, according to Vault’s recently released 2016 Office Romance Survey. The survey showed that 44 percent of Millennials (ages 18 to 34) had engaged in an office romance, while 59 percent of Gen X and 66 percent of Baby Boomers had done so. Of course, the explanation could always be as simple as time spent: the older you are, the more time you’ve had to fall in love with your cubicle neighbor.

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(Photo Credit: JD Hancock/Flickr)

Other highlights from the survey:

Do You Know What You're Worth?

51 percent of professionals said they’d had a relationship at work: 42 percent had “an ongoing, casual relationship,” 36 percent had an office hookup, 29 percent had a serious relationship, and 16 percent met their spouse at work.
64 percent of those who had intra-office romantic relationships said they’d do it again.
The percentage of respondents who found office relationships unacceptable increased slightly last year: 6 percent said it was “completely unacceptable,” as opposed to 5 percent in the previous year’s survey.
33 percent said that it was unacceptable to date co-workers at different levels – but with 16 percent of respondents reporting that they’d once dated their boss, and 23 percent saying they’d dated a subordinate, clearly not everyone feels this way.

Perhaps as a result of so many conflicting opinions about who is an acceptable romantic partner/colleague, 26 percent reported feeling uncomfortable due to their colleagues’ romance.

“The most awkward times are when you are friends with both people and they get in a fight or break up,” said a respondent. “It all comes into the office and people are almost expected to take sides. It is really difficult to stay friends with both people because they both focus on the fact that you are still friends with the other person.”

Another cited the possibility of romance being used to a participant’s professional advantage – something 32 percent of respondents were concerned about – saying, “People just take more interest when they feel like their love interest is getting slighted, and it is hard not to feel like that is favoritism, even if they are the supervisor and have to get involved anyway.”

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