Sleeping Your Way to the Top (Or Bottom)

You often spend more time at the office with co-workers than you spend at home with your spouse. So, what can happen? You know the answer; having an office affair.

We hear a lot of buzz about this, but how often does it really happen?

The Other 'Me Too'

Important Note: I'm not writing about sexual harassment in this article. I'm writing about consensual office romances. Sexual harassment is a legal matter covered under Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act, as well as state laws. The law deals with unwelcome sexual advances and sexual favors and also applies to retaliation if a person files a compliant.

Romance in the workplace is common, with about study. Who's dating whom? Job search engine surveyed 482 people who have been in an office relationship to find out. Results showed that women (21%) had a tendency to "date up" on the corporate ladder, vs. only 8% of men who date up. (That's not surprising, the researchers noted, considering women hold fewer positions of power at corporations.) Conversely, men (18%) are more likely to engage with someone in a lower position than their own, vs. only 6% of women. But they did note that, "The grand majority of office romancers (78% of men and 70% of women) dated a co-worker at the same level as their own."