First comes work, then comes marriage

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CHICAGO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Nearly 40 percent of U.S. workers in a survey indicated they had dated a co-worker at some point in their lives, CareerBuilder said Wednesday.

In addition, the employment firm said in a survey of 4,216 workers conducted by Harris Interactive, 17 percent of respondents indicated they had gone out with co-workers at least twice. And of those who had dated a co-worker, 30 percent indicated the relationship culminated in marriage.

Most of those who go out with a co-worker date a peer, but 29 percent of the workers who have dated a co-worker indicated that co-worker outranked them at work and 16 percent indicated they dated their own boss.

Women indicated they were more likely than men to date someone higher up in the hierarchy at work with 38 percent indicating they had dated a superior while 21 percent of men indicated they had done so.

CareerBuilder said the five industries where dating a co-worker was most common were leisure and hospitality, information technology, finance, healthcare and professional and business services.

Employers worried about productivity might be relieved to find that workers indicated the most common places for romance to begin was in a social setting outside of work. Running into a co-worker outside of work and happy hours were the two most commonly mentioned places for co-workers to initiate a romance. This was followed by late nights at work and by lunch, CareerBuilder said.

The survey was conducted throughout the month of November. The results carry a margin of error of 1.51 percentage points, it can be said with 95 percent certainty, CareerBuilder said.