Five People You Should Never Date at Work

Feb. 14, 2011 — -- Let's face it: Most people who've set foot in a workplace have considered sleeping with a colleague at some point during their career. Although some who throw professional caution to the wind do ride off into the sunset with their office fairy princess or prince charming, others end up with a bruised heart, reputation -- or worse -- career.

A new Vault.com survey of more than 2,000 workers found that of those who've had an office fling or romance (59 percent, to be exact), 30 percent said it affected their personal or professional relationships with other co-workers. What's more, 18 percent said their workplace dalliance led them or their romantic partner to leave the company.

To avoid becoming one of these workplace dating casualties, I suggest you steer clear of romantic entanglements with the following five catergories of colleagues.

The Intern

Sure, they're often young, nubile and eager to please. But so much can go wrong when dating an intern, assistant or any other underling that such temptations are best left alone.

If your colleagues find out about this office romance, there could be cries of favoritism. If you overcompensate by treating your subordinate more harshly than others on your team, there could be trouble in paradise, followed by awkwardness at the office if the two of you break things off.

For "Joseph," a web developer who didn't want his real name used, a secret tryst with the department intern ended with an ironic twist. During the recession, Joseph was laid off by his employer, ostensibly because of budget cuts. But that wasn't the only blow to his ego.

"Shortly after," Joseph said, "they hired her to replace me at a cheaper salary and a slightly different job title."

The IT Guy or Gal

In this case, I'm the one who's boldly gone where many a Luddite worker has not gone before. Unfortunately, I quickly came to regret my decision to dip a toe into the IT dating pool.Yes, nothing beats having your request for computer assistance rise to the top of the tech support queue. But fall out of favor with your technically inclined valentine and you'll have to endure the tech support call of shame any time your computer has the hiccups. At best, your tech support request will be ignored. At worst, your ex could take to reading your workplace e-mails or instant messages whenever the mood strikes.