Love in the Office: Who Sparks the Most Workplace Romances?

It's common for people to develop romantic relationships in the workplace. Spending a lot of time together, working towards the same goals, and sharing experiences can naturally lead to deeper connections. Engaging in playful banter by the coffee machine, sharing intense glances across the meeting room, and stealing moments of privacy during the work holiday party, it sometimes just happens. With full-time work clocking in at around 1,700 hours a year, it's no surprise that workplace romances can crop up. Forbes reports that more than 60% of adults have experienced a romantic connection with a coworker.

Love Honey, a shop specializing in adult novelties, conducted a survey involving over 2,000 adults in the U.S. The poll explored workplace relationships, spanning from innocent flirting to passionate flings, and even long-term partnerships.

Interestingly, their study found that people working in human resources (HR) are the most likely to have a workplace romance. After witnessing the potential chaos that can arise from office romances, one might assume that individuals in HR would avoid such entanglements.

Surprisingly, however, many HR professionals find themselves involved in workplace relationships. According to their survey, HR personnel surpass other industries in terms of flirting, having crushes, experiencing sex-related dreams, and engaging in romantic or sexual connections with colleagues. Both while single (70%) and while married (50%).

Among the married respondents (50%), 19% initiated romantic relationships with coworkers during this period, while 20% engaged in sexual relationships. Perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that 70% of surveyed HR employees who embarked on romantic relationships with coworkers while married did so with subordinates.

In a separate industry trend, those in finance are most likely to flirt, develop crushes, experience sex-related dreams, or establish romantic/sexual relationships with colleagues while already in a relationship (61%).

On the other hand, people in the legal field are most prone to engaging in workplace sexual relationships while already in a relationship (35%), while those in IT and telecommunications are most likely to have romantic affairs within the workplace (18%).

Take a look at some more interesting findings from the study here.

We send and receive a lot of emails throughout our lifetime, mainly while at work. How many times have you wondered about the best way to respond to a work email? In general, emails tend to have their own language or dialect. Sometimes there’s an underlying tone behind the professional jargon of your email. Like any other form of communication, the language of email has unwritten rules that change over time.

Most people don’t think about their email closing lines or what kind of vibe they may give off. According to Preply, nearly half (46%) of people say they can tell a coworker’s mood based on their greetings and sign-offs. Meanwhile, only 37% of people admitted to tweaking their own closing lines to show frustration. They also mentioned that younger workers may more often express their feelings through email.

Looking closer at the study’s data on salutations, they mention corporate communication "faux pas." Sixty-five percent of people want everyone to do away with using "sent from my phone, please excuse typos." The results also show that Forty-two percent say emojis are never appropriate, while more than 50% think they are "sometimes okay."

The most common sign-offs shown in the study include "thank you," "thanks," just your name, and "sincerely." The surveyors considered those to be the "most uptight" sign-offs. When it comes to the "most savage" sign-offs or worst ways to end an email they found these phrases to be the worst ways to do it.

If you want to end a work email in the best way possible, the study found has some helpful tips. You may want to use phrases like “thanks,” “talk soon,” and “take care.”

The full study can be found here.

These are some of the worst ways to end work emails.