Love is (Still) in the Air at Work

Romance is still blossoming at the water cooler.
Some 37% of workers recently polled confessed they have had an office romance at some point during their careers—down only slightly from the 40% making such an admission in similar 2008 and 2009 surveys, CareerBuilder said about its latest office romance survey. Not only is office dating widespread, but 32% of those with significant other/colleagues went on to get hitched to the colleague.

A CareerBuilder announcement said women were more likely to date someone senior to them on the company organizational chart (30% of women versus 19% of men).

How do such things get started? Eight percent of workers currently work with someone who they would like to date, with more men (11%) than women (4%) casting a longing eye toward their colleague. For 12% of workers, their new dating partner was a colleague they had encountered outside of work.  According to CareerBuilder, popular places for sparks to fly are: happy hour, lunch, working late at the office, company holiday party, and on a business trip.

Finally, from the Love-Gone-Wrong department, 5% of workers said they had actually left a job because of an office romance.

“Workplace relationships are more accepted these days, with 67% of workers saying they aren’t keeping their romance a secret. However, it is the responsibility of the individuals to understand company policy and make sure they adhere to it,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, in the news release. “Employees are working longer hours and under increased pressure, creating an environment that could cause relationships to bloom. Workers need to keep it professional under all circumstances, though, to ensure that the quality of their work is not negatively impacted.”

The survey was conducted in November online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 5,231 employees (employed full-time; not self-employed; non-government) ages 18 and over.

Newport Adds Regional Director

The Newport Group, a provider of retirement and executive benefit plans and investment consulting services, has appointed Joseph Cosentino as a regional director.

Cosentino will develop business relationships and identify market opportunities to promote the sale of Newport’s retirement plan administration and investment services to third-party intermediaries, according to a news release. He will report to Dennis Sain, Newport’s senior vice president, Qualified Retirement Services.

Prior to joining Newport, Cosentino held a number of sales leadership positions with Putnam Retail Management. As vice president, regional 401(k) director, he was responsible for the marketing of Putnam’s 401(k) services through intermediaries in the mid-Atlantic region.

Most recently, Cosentino was senior retirement plan consultant with Ross, Sinclaire and Associates. In that role, he was responsible for developing new business for the firm’s retirement plan group, consulting on plan reviews, and developing employee communication strategies, the announcement said.

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