Ooh la la! French finding love at work
Source: Agencies |
June 11, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE in three French people claim to have had a workplace romance, most often a short-lived fling, according to a survey published yesterday.
The survey, released as the arrest of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sex assault charges sparked debate in his native country about sex and politics and the line between public and private lives, also showed that one in 10 respondents used the Internet during office hours to flirt.
The poll backs a trend across the developed world where many meet their long-term partners in the office due to working ever longer hours, and where Internet availability and social media sites make online flirting possible during the day.
"Workplace life has long been considered a neutral zone, out of bounds to feelings and love. Frankly, it's actually more like a bar or a nightclub, a place that helps people meet up," said Ronan Chastellier, a sociologist who presented the survey.
The poll found that 31 percent of respondents admitted to a consensual workplace encounter but 63 percent of those who did described it as fleeting.
When it lasted, only 17 percent were happy to go public with it at work, 22 percent kept quiet and 6 percent quit their jobs to avoid any conflict of interest. The rest mostly ended up in different workplaces, but for reasons other than fear of reprisal.
Chastellier, a university sociologist who also works for an online dating company, said the finding that 9 percent of people flirted via the Internet during office hours was probably an underestimate.
Either way, the poll showed the old adage that work life and private life do not mix to be largely obsolete.
The survey, released as the arrest of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sex assault charges sparked debate in his native country about sex and politics and the line between public and private lives, also showed that one in 10 respondents used the Internet during office hours to flirt.
The poll backs a trend across the developed world where many meet their long-term partners in the office due to working ever longer hours, and where Internet availability and social media sites make online flirting possible during the day.
"Workplace life has long been considered a neutral zone, out of bounds to feelings and love. Frankly, it's actually more like a bar or a nightclub, a place that helps people meet up," said Ronan Chastellier, a sociologist who presented the survey.
The poll found that 31 percent of respondents admitted to a consensual workplace encounter but 63 percent of those who did described it as fleeting.
When it lasted, only 17 percent were happy to go public with it at work, 22 percent kept quiet and 6 percent quit their jobs to avoid any conflict of interest. The rest mostly ended up in different workplaces, but for reasons other than fear of reprisal.
Chastellier, a university sociologist who also works for an online dating company, said the finding that 9 percent of people flirted via the Internet during office hours was probably an underestimate.
Either way, the poll showed the old adage that work life and private life do not mix to be largely obsolete.
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