cover image Office Romance: Love, Power, and Sex in the Workplace

Office Romance: Love, Power, and Sex in the Workplace

Lisa A. Mainiero. Rawson Associates, $17.95 (298pp) ISBN 978-0-89256-341-8

Combining titillating gossip with practical advice, business school professor Mainiero explores the effect of office love affairs on corporate policy and practice. Claiming that the office has replaced the church, local community and family circle as chief source of romantic encounters, she surveyed 100 executive women about their experience or observation of office romance, examining also the ways that the corporate context is effected by office affairs. Recounting stories of power struggles, professional disasters, dalliance and heartbreak, she also cites beneficial impacts on careers, and romances leading to happy marriages--often depending on the marital status of the participants and their respective positions on the corporate ladder. Except in very conservative firms or if adultery is involved, she believes the benefits of office romances outweigh the risks, concluding that, in any case, sex in the workplace is here to stay. (July)