If you’re looking for the “Jim” to your “Pam,” you’re in luck, as a new survey has found that with Valentine’s Day returning once again, so are office romances.
According to a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management, 16% of Americans, or about 1 in 6, have admitted to dating a coworker in the past year, while another 52% said they’ve engaged in a workplace romance at some point during their career.
While the majority of those who are dating someone from their workplace admitted to dating a peer (54%), a staggering 41% of workplace relationships were found to have a power imbalance, meaning employees were dating their boss.
The survey highlighted that another 29% of participants admitted their workplace relationships were not solely based on the love they felt for the other person but on career advancement, power, and job security.
However, 53% said they joined the relationship because they truly felt love for the other person. Another 40% did it for self-interested motivations, like lust, excitement, or adventure.
When it comes to the impact that relationships have on a team, the report shared that 63% of managers said it had a positive impact, while 12% said it had a negative impact, and 25% reported no impact.
The findings were compiled from the responses of 1,000 U.S. workers, but to better understand the complexities of these relationships, it also included responses from 2,200 human resource professionals.
According to the human resource professionals, only 38% of the companies they worked for had a well-defined policy about workplace relationships. The other 62% either had no policy or addressed them on a case-by-case basis.
The top concern regarding human resource employees and workplace relationships involved “ the perception of favoritism or unfair treatment.”
The survey was conducted from Dec. 16-20. The margin of error was not made available.