Love in an elevator (or at the after-work drinks or the office party)

• Forty four per cent of people have had a lasting relationship at work
• Find your perfect partner on Churchill’s new Facebook application: You and Yours!

Love is in the air for Britain’s workforce, as a new study* from Churchill Insurance reveals that nearly half of employees (44 per cent) have had a lasting relationship with someone they met at work.

Of these relationships, 75 per cent are between direct workmates or colleagues.  The romance does not end with work colleagues either - four per cent have reverted to ‘customer relations’ in the truest sense of the word, having had a romance with a customer.

The good news for those looking for love is that the quick ‘work place fling’ is rare - more than a third of work place romances (35 per cent) last over a year and five per cent are currently engaged to be married.  A further 31 per cent of respondents married a person they met at work.

For those looking for romance at work, the best places to find it are:

• After work drinks (22 per cent)
• By catching someone’s eye across the desk in an open plan office (18 per cent)
• At a leaving party or the Christmas party (13 per cent)
• In the staff room (5 per cent)

At the other end of the scale, you are least likely to find the love of your life by the coffee machine (one per cent), at a conference (one per cent) or travelling on business (one per cent).

Matt Owen, spokesperson for Churchill, comments: “People spend so much of their lives at work it is easy to see why many have relationships with their colleagues. Our research shows that many get together at after work socials such as drinks and leaving parties, when people let their hair down and have a bit of a laugh.”

The research was commissioned to mark the launch of Churchill’s first ever Facebook application ‘You and Yours’. This application is a quiz consisting of ten questions that test how well respondents know their ‘other half’ or their friends on Facebook.

Owen continues: “Although it’s nice to see many people having long-lasting relationships with people they meet at work, social networking sites mean that people can make connections and have relationships with colleagues, friends and people on the other side of the world.”

Find Churchill’s Facebook application at Churchill.com or via the official Churchill page on Facebook.