Office Romance: On The High This Recession

Love And Romance

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Monday, May 30, 2011, 15:31

Enrick and Merlyn are the newly wed couple. They had recently tied the knot, making it the third couple in the office to get married to this month. Well, its just another instance of office romance in Australia.

According to a new Australian study, researchers find that one out of every five Australian women find romance in the workplaces because longer working hours limit the number of ways they can meet a potential partner.

So, how does experts opine on this? Clinical psychologist and relationship expert, Traci Coventry, reveals that many of her clients were in office romances. She corroborates: "A lot of people who are single, and working, have not a lot of places to socialize." She adds: "People are working longer and longer hours, particularly with the financial crisis we are having at the moment."

Because of the tough job, and work load, employees tend to spend a lot of time working as well as doing things that help them to distress. Hence, office becomes a place that an individual person spends the most of his time in his life. Anne Hollonds, of Relationships Australia, said that not only were people working longer hours, they were also viewing their workplaces as venues for romance. "These days, we see the workplace as more than somewhere you just do your job and go home," she said.

Dr. Coventry further said that some people had two partners: one at work, and one at home. "They're spending more time in the office than they are at home," she said. "People are actually looking at forming relationships at work, friendships. They're looking for relationships that are of meaning and importance," she added.

However, office romances might turn out to be difficult for many, as they can affect relationships with other colleagues and potentially breach the restrictions some employers have regarding workplace trysts. "It's certainly not a smooth road meeting partners at work but we seem to be doing it in reasonably large numbers," Hollonds said.

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