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Number of office romances highest since 2007

As Valentine's Day approaches, you might be feeling the romance in the office. Romantic relationships amongst co-workers may be more common than you think—and the numbers may be on the rise, found a new CareerBuilder survey.

The survey on 3,411  full-time private sector staff, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, found that 41% of workers have dated a co-worker, up from 37% last year and the highest since 2007. Additionally, 7% say they currently work with someone they would like to date this year.

Digging deeper, the survey unveiled that office romances are not just happening between peers. Of those who have had an office romance, 29% have dated a superior (compared to 23% last year) - a more common occurrence for women than men (33% versus 25%).

At the same time, 15% of employees revealed that they have dated someone who was their boss. As if that's not risky enough, 19% of office romances involved at least one person who was married at the time.

The survey also revealed that about 1 in 5 staff (21%) divulged that what someone does for a living influences whether they would date that person (18% of men and 24% of women).

ALSO READ: 9 signs your employees are having an office romance

With small talk gossiping with coworkers being a common workplace distraction, keeping office romances under wraps at work is hard work. Almost two in five workers who have had an office romance (38%) had to keep the relationship a secret at work, with male staff just as likely to keep office romances a secret (40%) as their female peers (37%).

After all that hard work, thankfully 30% of these office romances have led to marriage - on par with last year's findings.

Unfortunately, not all workplace relationships end happily ever after – and some result in more than heartbreak: 5% of workers who have had an office romance say they have left a job because of an office relationship gone sour.

READ MORE: Deal breakers that make a colleague “undateable”

Photo / 123RF

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