Hot love across the cubicle line

Since the invention of offices and the subsequent spending of up to 12 hours a day working with colleagues, the office romance has become part of middle-class life.

Why not? Life at work can be terribly dull. Co-workers sit close together and are often exciting. But affairs can be dangerous - jobs, marriages and reputations are put at risk.

These affairs fascinate the parties involved, their curious colleagues and, in some cases, the media. The recent sex scandal involving married Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and a young (also married) colleague not only made front page headlines in local newspapers, but drew comparisons with the affair former US president Bill Clinton had with his junior aide, Monica Lewinsky. Although both of these affairs are extraordinary cases of powerful men and women half their ages, they highlight the ease with which some have sex with their colleagues. They also highlight the danger.

Since most office workers are equipped with a fairly high IQ, why would they enter into an office liaison? The obvious reasons are worth mentioning.

Lucy Kellaway, columnist for the Financial Times and someone who through experience and research knows a thing or two, recently wrote that there are five main reasons. Firstly there is the proximity: two people are holed up together for most of their waking hours. Secondly, there is shared interest. By working together on projects in the same company two people have much in common. Third, there is the boredom of office work: work can be dull and a bit of flirtation can make it considerably less so, she said. The fourth reason, she said, is that to have a romance at work is terribly easy, and technology makes it easier still. Business trips and drunken office parties also help. The last reason she gives is that people look their best at work.

As much as these office dalliances intrigue, they can hurt.

In a tape released last week, Lewinsky is recorded saying 16 years ago: ''For the life of me, I can't understand how you could be so kind and so cruel to me. I have lost profoundly both professionally and personally, and in a toss up, our personal relationship changing has caused me more pain."

Revealing his pain, in a statement released last week, Vavi, who told his lover he regularly ''goes for tests", said: ''This is an extremely intimate, private, personal and delicate matter that requires great sensitivity and maturity to manage on my part."

It is, however, surprising how often these affairs end well - more often than ending in criminal charges of rape or extortion. In fact, recent research in England found that as many as a third of office relationships end in marriage. That's staggeringly high. Perhaps dressing up for work works.

RULES TO PLAY BY

DON'T DO IT

It's one of the worst decisions you can make. Office romances are not just complicated and unprofessional, they are boring. - Lucy Kellaway

Kellaway is an FT columnist and author of 'In Office Hours', a novel about office affairs

IF YOU MUST

Try to keep the relationship private until it is secure

You don't want the ups and downs of the romance to be a matter for public discussion.

When at work, focus on work

Nobody will object to the relationship if your professionalism is uninterrupted.

Don't lie

Efforts to stay private can get complicated, but lying about the relationship causes bad feelings.

Don't ever go out with the boss

If he or she is the love of your life, change jobs now. - Margaret Heffernan

• Heffernan is a US entrepreneur and author