Valentine's Day tidbit: executive romances at work

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Here are some stats that may surprise you: More than two-thirds of executives say they've had a secret crush on a co-worker. Close to half have been involved in an office romance. An excerpt from a press release I received is below.

"The survey of 734 executives in the $100k+ job market found that a combination of long hours, close quarters and the slow hum of the photocopy machine may be the perfect recipe for romance. When asked: Have you ever harbored a secret crush on a co-worker; a full 68 percent of the executives surveyed said, 'yes.' Only 32 percent said, 'no.'

As for those workers who’ve taken the crush one step further, 42 percent of those responding to a related survey of 1,044 executives said that they have been involved in a full-fledged office romance.

How many of these PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet-fueled romances involved infidelity? When asked in a third survey of 1,349 executives: Have you ever had an extramarital affair with a co-worker; 17 percent of respondents said, 'yes.' Thinking better of the repercussions of this type of romance, the 83 percent majority said they had not been adulterous with a co-worker.

'At its best, a healthy work environment is an intense, inspiring, challenging and gratifying place,' explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. 'While this combination can sometimes create a hothouse for emotional ties to the people we spend so much time with, office romances are not generally good for your career track. Executives who are serious about their careers need to think about business first; courting Alice in accounting isn’t the best way to maintain that killer instinct.'

TheLadders.com’s look at Office Valentines is based on a series of three independent surveys of registered $100k+ executives conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between January 11, 2005 and February 3, 2005."