10 top jobs for hooking up

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If You’re a Welder in Indianapolis, You’re Definitely Sleeping with Your Co-Worker

5:05 pm, February 7th | by Meredith Lepore

Those fun people at PayScale have given some of us something to be excited about, especially with Valentine’s Day around the corner. The put together a list of the 10 professions where you are most likely to have a fling at work. The list has some non-shockers like artists (they always get the ladies) and cooks (everyone loves a person who can make them a meal) and mechanics (that whole Uncle Jesse/grease monkey vibe, I guess?) but there are some surprising ones. Like, uh, welders. Food Service managers and database administrators also clean up pretty well. If this is true,why didn’t we see more database administrator costumes in Magic Mike?

Here is the full list of the 10 professions most likely to include a fling with a coworker:

Artists
Cooks
Welders
Stock Clerks
Occupational Health & Safety Specialists
Industrial Machinery Workers
Automotive Technicians
Food Service Managers
Database Administrators
Planning and Expediting Clerks

Did you know this breaks down by city as well? After all, nothing says romance like Buffalo, New York (number 7). When it’s that cold, everyone seems attractive. See the full list here.

There are also certain professions in which employees are more likely to sleep with their bosses. If you are a lodging manager in Austin, Texas, for instance, you are probably sleeping with your boss. And don’t even get me started on mechanical engineers in Portland, Oregon, those hussies. Here is the full list of professions where you are more likely to have an affair with your boss:

Lodging Managers
Cost Estimates
Office Clerks
Transportation, Storage & Distribution Managers
Accounting Clerks
Office Managers
Electrical Engineers
Mechanical Engineers
Administrative Assistants
Financial Analysts

So why are we attracted to our coworkers and bosses so often? First of all, there’s proximity. We spend a lot of time with our coworkers. All those long hours of welding add up. Sharon Gilchrest O’Neill, Marriage & Family Psychotherapist and Author, said:

“With a coworker, if you get into habits of sharing personal information, long talks, lunches, etc. and particularly if they are a good listener with empathy, it is very easy to believe you are “falling in love” and that this coworker is the most special person in your life … the self-disclosure that goes on is something that automatically brings us closer to another person, but doesn’t mean we’re “falling in love” – with a coworker, if you are unhappy with your marriage/girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other, it can be an easy slide into thinking this coworker is so much more appreciative of who your are, and is willing to give you their time and best listening skills, unlike what happens in your relationship outside of work (so many spend more time with a coworker than the special person in their life.)”

Dr. John Duffy said:

“I think the factor that most allows for people falling in love with bosses and co-workers (despite many corporation policies) is exposure. We see the people we work with more than anyone else. In many corporate cultures, people work together for many hours a day, often well into the evening. They get to know one another quite intimately, and sometimes become attracted to one another and fall in love. I do think that some workers become enamored with the power their bosses carry, which can make the attraction even greater.

You are also correct that there is a certain like-mindedness, or at the very least some salient interests in common, between people who work together. With all these factors at play, I often think it ridiculous to enact a policy forbidding relationships between co-workers, as it often seems all-but-certain in so many work places!”

Food for thought this Valentine’s Day weekend.

TAGS: coworkers | jobs | news | office romance | survey