Overworked Indians seek solace in office affairs

INDIA: Office romances in largely conservative India are blossoming, and sex among work colleagues is no longer taboo, a recent survey of the country's top corporate executives has revealed.

And it's not just single people who are prepared to mingle with co-workers, the survey indicates. Carried out by global research firm Synovate, it polled about 400 people from 500 top Indian companies, including those in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Even married male and female executives were prone to office affairs, it showed, with at least one-third of those polled seeing no harm in romancing their colleagues, especially as economically resurgent India's growing corporate culture is forcing employees to spend an inordinate amount of time at work. "This [ romancing] is especially true of call centres, where executives spend long hours in close proximity with the opposite gender," a senior manager said, declining to be identified.

The majority of call-centre employees, she added, worked through the night, given the time difference with the West, and ended up seeking "solace" from co-workers. Titled Romance at the Workplace, the survey, one of the first of its kind, also established that 59 per cent of India's executives felt women were equal partners in office romances, with many even initiating affairs.

"This is an urban phenomenon, especially one in which economically independent women are increasingly finding the need to express themselves more assertively and live life on their terms," sociologist Dipankar Gupta said.

One of the main reasons given by women employees for beginning an affair with their boss was the prospect of promotion and higher pay. However, while most said office affairs adversely affected efficiency, they thought firms had no business interfering in their romantic liaisons.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times