Romance and the Workplace

A Randstad survey gives it a thumbs-up as its results challenge existing notions about the personal and the professional. 

BY A CORRESPONDENT

5 February 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Attitudes at the workplace seem to be changing fast. A survey conducted by Harris Interactive(R) for U.S. based Randstad's inaugural monthly "Job Bites" generated surprising results that challenge existing notions about the personal and the professional. The results seem to indicate that all work and no play may not make Jack a dull boy.

The survey, which interviewed a nationwide sample of 2,066 U.S. adults, among whom 1,478 were employed, suggests that those who are single and ready to mingle, don't necessarily consider the workplace to be a taboo space for romance. Interestingly, the survey showed that more than half of all employed adults find the time to communicate in some form with their significant others. Does this reflect the changing nature of the workplace or the logical consequence of the various methods of communication (phone, email, instant messaging, text messaging) available today? Over a third of the sample said that they spend up to 15 minutes a day communicating with a significant other. And with only one percent spending more than four hours communicating with their significant other, it seems that the new workplace atmosphere has struck the right balance between a good work ethic and a healthy personal life.

Although only twenty percent believed in carrying Valentine's Day flowers (or wearing red) to work on February 14, St.Valentine will still be smiling. Over a third of employed American adults believed that it was appropriate to date a co-worker, and 27 per cent had kissed a co-worker. Reflecting on these finds, Genia Spencer, Managing Director of Operations and Human Resources for Randstad concluded that, "Right now, based on our survey around romance in the workplace, adult Americans are telling us that they do mix business with pleasure, and that that's not necessarily a bad thing. With Americans spending more and more time at their jobs, the workplace is increasingly becoming a source of social activity and a venue for romantic interaction."

Over a third of employed married adults believed that married workers are more reliable, while only 19 percent of divorced/widowed/separated adults agreed, and only 9 percent of single adults agreed with that statistic. The stereotype was reversed with more married adults believing that single workers tend to socialize more, and with more single adults believing that single workers are more fun to work with.

Randstad USA is a workforce solutions company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Randstad Holding nv, a $7.1 billion global provider of professional employment services and the fourth largest staffing organization in the world. The survey is part of Randstad's 2006 plan to commission a monthly survey on relevant and provocative workplace trends. The data collected by the survey took into account specificities of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. It is estimated to have a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for results from employed U.S. adults. The error percentage is higher and varied for the various sub-samples of Married, Single, Divorced/Separated/ Widowed workers.