Love Blooms in a Cubicle

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a CareerBuilder survey found that 39% of workers have dated a coworker at least once over their career.

The survey also found that 17% of respondents have dated coworkers at least twice. Although office romance can have its share of drama, not all relationships end by cinematically throwing papers in the lover’s face: 30% of those who have dated a coworker said the romance led to marriage.

Most office relationships tend to develop between peers, with 20% saying they are more attracted to people who have a similar job. Twenty-nine percent of respondents, however, said they prefer to date someone above them in the company hierarchy, and 16% admitted to dating their boss. Women were more likely to date someone higher up in their organization—38% compared with 21% of men.

The level of office romance varies among industries, with the top five being leisure and hospitality; information technology; finance; healthcare; and professional and business services.

Most workers who have had office romances said they were open about their dating situation, but 35% said they had to keep the relationship secret.

CareerBuilder’s annual office romance survey polled 4,000 workers nationwide and was conducted online by Harris Interactivebetween November 1 and November 30, 2012.