More than 49% of Irish have found romance in the office & Irish men prove to be more romantic than the French at work.

Dublin, 10 February 2005 …Considering we spend an average of 80,840 hours of our lifetime at the workplace! It's not surprising that strong friendships and even romances flourish during our working hours. With Valentine's Day approaching, the Monster Meter decided to investigate exactly how passionate people are in the workplace?

The Monster Meter asked: "Have you ever had a romance at work?"

36,950 Monster users participated in the Valentine's Day poll in Europe, 18365 & 18585 men and women voted respectively revealing the following:

46% - Male respondents - Yes
54% - Male respondents - Never in my life
49% - Female respondents - Yes
51% - Female respondents - Never in my life

2,103 Irish people voted on Monster.ie site revealing the following:

44% - Male respondents - Yes
56% - Male respondents - Never in my life
51% - Female respondents - Yes
49% - Female respondents - Never in my life

The results in Ireland show 51% of female respondents admitted to having had an affair of some sort at work, whilst 46% of male respondents said they had experienced an office romance. When looking at combined figures, we can safely say that 49%, of Irish have been involved with a colleague.

"We work so hard in the Ireland that it's not surprising that people meet and find love in the workplace," says Fiona Sexton, Marketing Manager, Monster.ie "Whilst employers generally don't encourage office romances, some psychologists actually say that an office romance can be beneficial, as an employee's performance can be enhanced by channelling romantic involvement into enthusiasm for work and greater productivity!"

The European average revealed that 46% of the surveyed men, and 49% of the surveyed women, responded to having an affair at work. Surprisingly, The survey revealed that Irish men (46%) are in fact more romantic than the French (42%) in the workplace!

Overall, the Northern European men revealed themselves as the most hot-blooded Europeans at work! A higher majority in Norway (54%) Sweden (51%) and Great Britain (57%) responded "Yes" to having an office romance. In Southern Europe, France, Spain and Italy, the men are not living up to their reputation, with only (42%), (46%) and (46%) respectively, having had an office romance.

However, the Belgians are the most conscientious at work, rarely allowing the opposite sex to distract them. (65%) and (63%) of the men and women surveyed responded to not having had an affair with a colleague before.

Although Romance at work shouldn't' have an impact on your career, if it does happen, it is best to keep a few points in mind when engaging in an office romance. Here are some tips for ensuring an office romance doesn't't interfere with your career:

Check the rule book: There's nothing more refreshing than a new romance, but many companies have policies for relationships forming within the work place - make sure you know what these are. Some actively discourage it; others just suggest you let them know about it.

Know you limits: When it comes to love in the office set some ground rules for your relationship within the working environment, steer clear of snogging in the lift and try to keep the soppy e-mails to a minimum. Above all, be discreet!

Be careful how you tell your peers: Some of us love a gossip but if you are just embarking on an office romance, be warned as often it's not the big secret you think it is so it's best to get it out in the open sooner rather than later.

It's nothing to be ashamed of: Remember, 49% of your peers claim to have had an office romance, so you are not the first!

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster.ie visitors from 17th to 31st January 2005. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide, Inc., is a series of online polls that gauge users' opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monster's current online poll may do so by logging onto www.monster.ie. These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate.