Study: Most Employees Don't Want an Office Romance

The majority of employees prefer to keep their work and love lives separate, new research shows.

A study by the online job site Monster.com revealed that regardless of whether they think it would hurt their career, 54% of the employees surveyed across seven countries would never date a co-worker. Specifically, 39% believe that office romances can damage an employee's career — causing them to steer clear of striking up a relationship with a colleague — while 15% wouldn't embark on a workplace romance despite thinking there would be no lasting job-related consequences.

U.S. employees are more concerned than their international counterparts about the possibility that an office romance could hurt their career. The research discovered that while 52 % of American workers wouldn't date a co-worker because of potential damage to their job status, just 24% of Europeans felt the same.