Most employees believe that dating a coworker could cause more trouble than it’s worth, according to a new survey by Monster.com and Spherion Corp.
The survey found that 73 percent of U.S. workers say openly dating a coworker could lead to conflict on the job, and 62 percent said such relationships are a distraction from work.
Fifty-three percent of workers say they’ve had a crush on a coworker, but of that group only 36 percent had had a workplace relationship. Nearly half of those surveyed, 48 percent, say they’d be willing to date someone in a different department within their company, but only 21 percent say the same about their own department. Nine percent say they’d consider dating their supervisor.
Spherion, a staffing and outsourcing company, said workers appear to be more cautious about the idea of dating on the job than they were in healthier economic times. The company said many people may be more cautious about creating any problems at work during a time of high unemployment.
The firm also recommended that employers make their policies about workplace dating clear.
Monster.com conducted the survey on behalf of Spherion, contacting subscribers who had agreed to receive communication from the online jobs site. It included 790 people over 20 years old.
