THE END OF THE ( OFFICE) AFFAIR
COVID and bosses killing off workplace nookie
office affair is dead – killed off by the COVID crisis and HR managers banning sex between staff, a new survey has found.
Just five per cent of men and seven per cent of women would consider dating a colleague in future, the study shows.
The vast majority of employees said they fear their career would be damaged if they started dating a co-worker.
Just over half of men and women HAVE dated a work colleague in the past but only two per cent of either sex have done it in the past year.
The figures are from a survey of 2,000 people by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s leading affairs site. It found that a fifth of men and a quarter of women have had sex with a colleague in a work situation – in the office or at works party.
Almost all men and women say they work with someone they are attracted to, even if they are married.
Intimate
But similar numbers of both sexes said they have been put off from seeking relationships at work due to HR policies banning work romances.
The most likely place for a work romance to start is at the office Christmas party.
Other popular spots for workplace affairs included the pub after work and office sports facilities but the bug has wrecked chances for romances in the last year with 90 per cent fewer offices open than before the pandemic.
A big factor in the recent decline in office affairs is high profile cases such as that of former McDonald’s chief Steve Easterbrook, 53, who is being sued for £35m by the fast food chain over relationships with female co-workers.
The firm’s rules ban intimate relationships between employees.
IllicitEncounters.com sex expert Jessica Leoni said: “People were scared to bed a colleague before the pandemic because they feared they would be fired. Now there’s the risk of infection, and anyway many of us are working from home.”