Flexible co-working ‘fuelling office romances’

It used to be down to catching the eye of your suitor at the water cooler, but now with the influx of co-working super offices with an average of 700 members per building, office romances are hitting record levels.

Daily networking opportunities, huge open plan co-working areas and free beer are some of the features that are helping to turn WeWork into ‘WePull’.

“If you fill a building with young, ambitious people, then fuel them with free beer, topped off with evening networking – it’s going to bring people together and I guess that’s the point”, said Jonathan Ratcliffe from Offices.co.uk.

“We’ve been told that the large buildings are very busy with new relationships, and many are working out. People seem to have a common goal, a reason to chat and the environment is very productive to new relationships – both business and personal.”

The average amount of co-workers per WeWork location is nearly 700 – with a steady turnover and influx of new members every day, those looking for new romance can sit back and take their pick. Even if it doesn’t work out, flexible workspace means just that – move to the next.

But there are pitfalls for those working for large organisations though – breeching company policy and embarrassing public arguments could have serious effects for those in long term employment.

According to a survey by Vault.com, industries with the highest “fling per head” were:

• Retail – 62%
• Technology – 60%
• Human Resources – 57%
• Insurance – 54%
• Finance – 49%

The survey also found that 51% had an office romance at some point, and 20% were in a relationship with a co-worker at that very time.