Newsweek: Letterman is not alone; Workplace affairs on the rise

Much ado this week about David Letterman's forced acknowledgment of his affair with his assistant Stephanie Birkitt. According to research reported in a recent Newsweek story they are far from alone in engaging in an office romance:

In 2006, a survey by career-research company Vault found almost 60 percent of employees in America confessed to having had an office relationship, up from 47 percent in 2003; 9 percent of those who had not had one said they wish they had.

Companies that try to combat this type of behavior are up against workforce shifts that have more women working more hours.

In his book MicroTrends, pollster Mark Penn declared that "the office has become the 21st-century singles bar. Water is the next gin and tonic, and Muzak the new club beat." Which is a very unsexy way to put it. But given the expanding number of women and singles in the workforce, and the surge in working hours for those ages 25 to 34, the office is going to become a crowded, if unflatteringly fluoro-lit, bar.

Failing to end such dalliances, some companies are resorting to romance "contracts" insuring that both parties are coming into the relationship on equal footing and that the affair is consensual and equitable.

Regardless of the corporate approach, workplace affairs are a real, and growing, trend in corporate America.

Source: Newsweek