Office Romance Is Good For Business

As people work more and marry later, the workplace is now—perhaps more than ever—fertile hunting ground for singletons. Twelve-hour days leave little time for outside fraternizing, and Internet dating leaves many feeling morally defeated. But despite the rise of companies touting work-life balance and professing an understanding of employees’ personal needs, many employers remain squeamish about intra-office love. (Nearly a dozen firms declined to comment for this story.) There are an enlightened few, however, that not only accept workplace dating but also see that permitting it is good for employees and, by extension, good for employers. Companies like Southwest Airlines and AT&T have publicly come out in favour of office coupling, while others like IBM and Xerox have abolished long-held bans on dating among supervisors and staff.