Finding Love from 9 to 5

Book excerpt: Employees of both sexes share the work environment, and a mishandled office romance can be disastrous for love, a life partnership, or a career. Avoid the pitfalls of love-at-work—from the corner office to the online "friend"—with this 21st-century guide. The typical workplace offers constant opportunities for face-to-face communication and social interaction. Individuals within a work environment have common experiences, share the same frustrations or feelings, and can easily garner details about one another from simple observation and casual conversation. It is not surprising that workplace romances happen so frequently, making it a topic of great interest to far more individuals than those who work in Human Resources departments. Finding Love from 9 to 5: Trade Secrets of Office Romance is not about workplace misbehavior. It's about love relationships that begin—and sometimes end—on company time, regardless of whether these individuals work in the same physical environment or not. Powerful emotions can and do ignite via a virtual connection as easily as in an actual shared workplace environment—real relationships spark in either context. This book is for anyone who has fallen in or out of love in the workplace, the single person who is dreaming of or on the brink of an office romance, and colleagues and supervisors who must learn to live and work among those involved in "in-house" relationships.