what is your take on office romance?

When I was yet to be married, I got an alliance from my own office. The boy's friends approached our family friend uncle and he told my father. But I said no. The reason being, my friend's husband used to come to our office and watch my friend, whether she is talking to male colleagues. This has created a fear in me that marrying from the same office will create problems. But later I knew my fear was baseless as many have loved and married from the same office and are living happily. Hence I say romance in the office is ok but it should not be made cheap and kept well within limits.

In most of the companies I've worked with, I have seen some office romance. Some were illegal and some were not. I mean illegal because it involved two married co-workers. The legal ones were better because they ended up being married.

it does if they are really meant for each other or compatible(soul mate or whatever).. same with other relationships outside the office..

it would be okay if both of them is open minded and doesn't have the tendency to get envious of each other. in some cases if one gets promoted and go to a higher position and the other one stays below, the one who stays below would feel envious, will feel "small" and pathetic. that's where problems might occur. but if both of them would feel sincerely happy for each other's development, then they wouldn't encounter a problem. ^__^

I think its just fine. As long as your work and the company's interest doesn't get affected at all. In my kind of work (call center) office love affairs are just normal and common.

Hmmm. Well I met most of my EX-boyfriends (including an EX-fiance) at work. Considering they are all Ex's, I would say it is not for me! Lolol... Although it's hard to avoid sometimes depending on how social your job is.... my plan is to stay away and conclude it does not work for me! I know that had I not had to see these guys every day, it would not have gone on as long as it did. Let me also say, when things are not going good with the person, it disrupts your work!

I personally don't agree with office romances. I've never been interested in pursuing a relationship with an office colleague myself but the reason I am against it generally is that I've seen too many problems due it and I'll give you some examples: 1) Your manager starts dating your colleague and your colleague gets promoted above you when it's time for a promotion, of course, you're going to assume they got promoted because they're seeing the boss! 2) Your colleague is dating the boss, your colleague is dumped by the boss and suddenly everything they do is wrong and they end up leaving because they feel so useless! 3) Two people in your office are dating, the whole time they're together it's awkward in team meetings because whatever one person suggests the other agrees with and vice versa. They split up and then suddenly neither of them agrees with the other, the team dynamic changes and they're always sniping at each other, it makes things really uncomfortable for the rest of the team. 4) You start dating your colleague who is senior to you, the people who you thought were your friends in the office are a bit funny around you now as they think everything you talk about is going to go back to the boss and other people you never got on with are suddenly trying to be your friend, you don't know if it's because they genuinely like you or because you're seeing the boss... Do you get the picture? I have seen these things happen in the workplace over the years many times and some really extreme situations too where staff were expected to take sides. I've been subjected to a colleague who was senior to me trying it on with me and I was firm in saying I wasn't interested and they acted quite cold towards me from then onwards. There are, of course, certain circumstances where office romances work but how much would you trust your best friend at work if they started dating the boss? All the things you might have said about your boss in the past to your pal, would you be sure that they wouldn't repeat these things to your boss? Think about it...

They can work out sometimes I guess, I have a policie aginst them in my office. they don't always work out and in either case they can be distracting. I had a couple once who were constantly instant messaging with each other and their productiviy went down, I had a talk with the two of them seperatley. It didn't end up working out between the two of them and the woman quit saying she couldn't be around him anymore. I just want to avoid similar situations that could occur in the future.