Office romance more European style 30 June, 2008 By Vanessa Ho

66 per cent of Greek workers were noted to most likely engage in an office romance, followed by the Netherlands at 51 per cent and Spain at 46 per cent.

While 40 per cent of Swedes, Americans and Brits would engage in an office romance, workers in Germany were least likely to have dated a co-worker, at 28 per cent.

An office love affair seems to be most acceptable in the Netherlands with 93 per cent of respondents not bothering to keep it on the down-low. This was followed by workers in Spain (77 per cent), Germany (70 per cent), the UK (69 per cent), U.S. (66 per cent), Greece (62 per cent) and Sweden (57 per cent) showing their office romance out in the open.

In terms of who they dated, the data suggested that male employees in Spain, the Netherlands and Greece were more likely to have dated a co-worker in a higher position than women workers in those countries. In Sweden, the UK, Germany and the U.S., women were more likely to have dated someone in a higher position than men in those countries.

Out of all the workers surveyed, the results indicated that U.S. workers (29 per cent) were most likely to marry co-workers that they dated, followed by workers in the UK (21 per cent), Germany (19 per cent), Spain (17 per cent) and Sweden (16 per cent). Workers from Greece (five per cent) and the Netherlands (four per cent) were the least likely to marry a co-worker they dated.

If you are interested in striking up an office romance, CareerBuilder.com and Jobbguiden.se study noted that Happy hour was the most popular place to start one in the UK, Spain and Greece. In Sweden and Germany, romance was most commonly started at the company holiday party or company picnic. In the U.S. and the Netherlands, running into someone outside of work was the most popular way to begin office relationships.