CareerBuilder.co.uk Office Romance Survey Compares the Dating Habits of U.S. Workers and European Workers From Six Countries

LONDON, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --
- UK Workers are More Likely Than Other European Workers Surveyed to Marry Co-Workers They Date-
If you are interested in dating co-workers, then a new survey from CareerBuilder.co.uk reveals that Greece, the Netherlands and Spain may be the best places for you to work. Out of the countries surveyed, Greek workers (66 per cent) are the most likely to have engaged in an office romance, followed by workers in the Netherlands (51 per cent), Spain (46 per cent), the UK (40 per cent), Sweden (40 per cent) and the U.S. (40 per cent). Workers in Germany (28 per cent) are the least likely to have dated a co-worker.
Dating Higher Ups
The data suggests that in Spain, the Netherlands and Greece, men are more likely to have dated a co-worker in a higher position than women workers in those countries. In the UK, Germany, Sweden and the U.S., women are more likely to have dated someone in a higher position than men in those countries.
Per cent of workers who have dated co-workers in higher positions (overall and by gender)
-- UK: 22 per cent (Men: 14 per cent, Women: 30 per cent) -- Spain: 58 per cent (Men: 64 per cent, Women: 49 per cent) -- Sweden: 25 per cent (Men: 19 per cent, Women: 32 per cent) -- Netherlands: 41 per cent (Men: 41 per cent, Women: 38 per cent) -- Germany: 24 per cent (Men: 18 per cent, Women: 30 per cent) -- Greece: 38 per cent (Men: 40 per cent, Women: 34 per cent) -- United States: 27 per cent (Men: 20 per cent, Women: 37 per cent)

Where is office romance most accepted?
Workers in the Netherlands (93 per cent) are the least likely to have to keep their work relationships secret, followed by workers in Spain (77 per cent), Germany (70 per cent), the UK (69 per cent), U.S. (66 per cent), Greece (62 per cent) and Sweden (57 per cent).
Getting Married
Out of all the workers surveyed, the results suggest that U.S. workers (29 per cent) were most likely to marry co-workers they dated, followed by workers in the UK (21 per cent), Germany (19 per cent), Spain (17 per cent) and Sweden (16 per cent). Workers from Greece (5 per cent) and the Netherlands (4 per cent) were the least likely to marry a co-worker they dated.
Where the Love Begins
Happy hour is the most popular place to start an office romance in the UK, Spain and Greece. In Sweden and Germany, romance most commonly starts at the company holiday party or company picnic and in the U.S. and the Netherlands, running into someone outside of work is the most popular way to begin office relationships.
Office romances began at:
-- Happy Hour: UK (17 per cent), Spain (17 per cent), Greece (11 per cent), U.S. (11 per cent), Sweden (10 per cent), Netherlands (6 per cent), Germany (2 per cent) -- Outside of Work: Sweden (13 per cent), Germany (13 per cent), U.S. (13 per cent), Spain (12 per cent), UK (9 per cent), Netherlands (8 per cent), Greece (6 per cent) -- Company holiday party or company picnic: Germany (16 per cent), Sweden (16 per cent), UK (7 per cent), Spain (5 per cent), Greece (4 per cent), U.S. (3 per cent) Netherlands (2 per cent) -- At lunch: U.S. (11 per cent), Germany (7 per cent), UK (6 per cent), Spain (5 per cent), Sweden (4 per cent), Netherlands (4 per cent), Greece (3 per cent) -- Company off-site meeting: Greece (6 per cent), UK (5 per cent), Spain (4 per cent), Germany (3 per cent), Netherlands (2 per cent), U.S. (2 per cent), Sweden (less than 1 per cent) -- Company business trip: Germany (7 per cent), Spain (6 per cent), Sweden (3 per cent), Greece (3 per cent), UK (1 per cent), Netherlands (1 per cent), U.S. (1 per cent) -- Late night working: Germany (12 per cent), U.S. (10 per cent), Greece (9 per cent), Spain (5 per cent), Sweden (5 per cent), UK (4 per cent), Netherlands (less than 1 per cent)

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, The United Kingdom, and the US, respectively, by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com and CareerBuilder.co.uk among 566 employees from Germany, 396 employees from Greece, 428 employees from The Netherlands, 427 employees from Spain, 436 employees from Sweden, 507 employees from The United Kingdom, and 6,704 employees from The US (employed full-time; not self-employed, respectively) ages 18 and over between November 3, and December 28, 2007. Based on the pure probability of each country's sample size, could say with a 95 per cent probability that the respective results have a sampling error of +/- 4.2 percentage points for Germany. +/- 4.9 percentage points for Greece, +/- 4.7 percentage points for The Netherlands, +/- 4.7 percentage points for Spain, +/- 4.7 percentage points for Sweden, +/- 4.4 percentage points for The United Kingdom, and +/- 1.2 percentage points for the US.
About CareerBuilder.co.uk
CareerBuilder UK is one of the most visited online job sites in the United Kingdom, with more than one million unique visitors in April 2008, according to comScore. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), CareerBuilder.co.uk powers the career centres for more than 160 individual UK sites that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences. Job seekers visit CareerBuilder.co.uk every month to search for opportunities by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for automatic e-mail job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk.
Media Contact: Tanya Flynn +1-773-527-5393 Tanya.Flynn@careerbuilder.com

Web site: http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk
Tanya Flynn, +1-773-527-5393, Tanya.Flynn@careerbuilder.com