Cupidís Arrow Bounces Off Cold Hearts of Workers ñ new survey

- Half of workers too busy to bother about romance
- 74% think St. Valentineís Day is overrated
- But TLC is still the gift of choice on St. Valentineís Day

Cupid will have his work cut out for him in Ireland as new survey results from careers website RecruitIreland.com show that almost half of workers in Ireland are ëtoo busy to bother about romance.í Although that does not stop 1 in 5 workers from meeting their partners through work whereas nightclubs and pubs score only marginally better. The RecruitIreland.com survey of almost 1,200 workers shows that almost three quarters of workers ñ both male and female, think the day is overrated.

Speaking about the results, Aoife Curtin of RecruitIreland.com said:

ìThe results seem to confirm that workers in Ireland donít get too distracted by Cupid and are instead more focused on their careers. However the workplace does score highly as a place to meet potential partners. Also, while workers are happy to put love on hold, they believe that bosses shouldnít expect to be kept informed of the romantic interludes of their staff. This does pose some issues for employers in the context of harassment and bullying legislation and employers should ensure that they have clear policies in place on appropriate behaviour in the workplace.î

The shortage of romance seems to be particularly acute among men with 85% of female respondents and 65% of male respondents stating that women are more romantic. Very similar percentages also believe that Irish people are less romantic than other nationalities. Yet almost three quarters of male respondents believe that romance is alive and well in Ireland today whereas just 57% of women believe it is.

However, while men appear to have a lot of work to do to improve their romantic image they are at least prepared to take a risk on love in the workplace. One third of male respondents are likely to send a Valentineís Day card to a work colleague whereas the percentage of female respondents who will do so is just over 15%. However one area where both sexes agree is on the issue of keeping private lives private and almost 80% of all respondents believe that employers have no right to know if employees become romantically involved with each other.

The other area where men and women agree is on the preferred gift on St. Valentineís Day. While 15% of male respondents spend in excess of Euro100 on a gift for their loved one it seems that plain old Tender Loving Care is the gift of choice. So the old adage that ëmoney canít buy loveí seems to hold true but flowers, jewellery, champagne and chocolates are rated as close substitutes for both men and women.