Corbis Images
I’ve witnessed more interoffice affairs than I care to admit. At a previous job, I knew of at least five affairs, and I’m almost sure that there were some that I didn’t know about. There was one guy who was in so deep that he would only make his wife’s picture his screensaver on his computer when his mistress was out sick. You can probably guess how things went down when he forgot to change it back before his mistress returned to work. There was another guy who carried on an office affair for years until his wife found out and divorced him. He later married his mistress, and she left the company to be a stay-at-home wife. He now has a new mistress who works at the office. I always assumed that I just worked with extremely messy people, but according to this recent Vault survey, interoffice affairs are happening everywhere.
Out of the 2,274 adults who participated in the survey, 47 percent claimed to be aware of infidelity on the part of a married or attached coworker. Only 19 percent of percent of participants confessed to engaging in an interoffice affair themselves. Out of those who confessed to having affairs with colleagues, 23 percent said that the infidelity either ended their own or their coworker’s marriage or long-term relationship. 14 percent reported experiencing professional consequences and career setbacks as a result of these affairs.
Personally, I don’t believe that office romances are ever a good idea. Whether you’re in a long-term relationship or not, it’s just a bad look to do dirt where you have to eat, but apparently, I’m in the minority. 51 percent of adults who responded to the survey shared that they’ve crossed that line with a colleague in the past, and 27 percent of them admitted to actually getting busy in the workplace. Only 5 percent of people responded that they believe no office romances are appropriate.
Are any of your married colleagues having affairs with coworkers? Does this make you uncomfortable?
Follow Jazmine on Twitter @JazmineDenise
