Office Romance Is Back: How We Got Here—and What Smart HR Does Next
Tuesday, August 12 , 2025.
Office romance is back.
After years of pixelated meetings, the slow migration back to cubicles, open-plan islands, and too-bright conference rooms has revived an ancient workplace tradition: people falling for each other between the budget review and the stale muffins.
In 2025, younger workers are leading the charge—Gen Z and millennials say the office beats the apps for meeting someone real.
Nearly half of workers ages 18–44 report starting a romance with a coworker after returning to in-person work. Business Insider
For HR leaders, that means one thing: stop pretending workplace romance is rare. It isn’t. It’s normal, it’s messy, and it’s manageable—if you plan for it.
SHRM’s latest, large-sample surveys show how common these relationships are, why they start, and where the real risks sit. SHRM+2SHRM+2
The Terrain Before COVID: Proximity, Policy, and a Quiet Stigma
Before 2020, the research canon already mapped the landscape. Classic organizational studies showed how proximity and shared mission make coworkers likely partners, while power gaps and perceptions of favoritism create hazards.
A foundational model from Pierce, Byrne, and Aguinis detailed how romances form and why coworkers and managers often judge them more harshly than the couple does. Herman Aguinis
Advice to employees and managers, especially in mainstream outlets, leaned cautionary: be transparent, avoid power lines, and separate work from love. (Harvard Business Review’s perennial guidance captured that pre-pandemic tone.) Harvard Business Review
The Shock of 2020–2022: Remote Work and “Intentional” Intimacy
Then the world went home.
If pre-COVID office romance was a slow burn, the remote era turned courtship into something more deliberate.
Popular coverage noted an unexpected twist: many singles became more intentional, more candid, even tender in how they dated. The impulse wasn’t less love—it was less noise. The Atlantic
By 2022, early think pieces were already clocking a rebound in office connections as people mixed hybrid schedules with selective in-person contact.
But the rules had shifted: fewer accidental meet-cutes, more manufactured serendipity—Slack banter, longer video calls, planned overlap days. Business Insider
2023–2025: Hybrid Reality, RTO Mandates, and the New Normal
As companies nudged people back—some gently, some with a shove—the office re-emerged as a high-signal dating venue. Business Insider’s 2025 reporting captures the moment: younger workers, frustrated with swipe culture, are surprisingly open about office romance. Managers, for their part, are more pragmatic than preachy. Business Insider
SHRM’s 2024–2025 data put numbers around the vibe:
52% of U.S. workers have been in a workplace romance (ever/current).
53% of relationships begin for love-related reasons; 29% start for job-related reasons (proximity, shared ambition).
“Risky” romances (clear power imbalances) declined from 13% in 2024 to 7% in 2025—good news that still demands vigilance.
HR’s #1 concern: perceptions of favoritism.
Most orgs aren’t banning romance; they’re allowing with boundaries (clear policy or case-by-case guardrails). SHRM
Zoom out: the return-to-office itself (RTO) is uneven—by gender, level, and industry—which shapes who meets whom and how visible relationships become. (Coverage in the Wall Street Journal documents how RTO dynamics have differed for men and women, with potential knock-ons for mentorship and visibility.) Wall Street Journal
What the Research (Still) Says: Upsides, Downsides, and a Big Caveat
Decades of studies tell a nuanced story:
Upsides Exist. Workplace romance can correlate with better mood, motivation, belonging, and even performance—especially for lateral (peer-to-peer) relationships. Psychological well-being appears to mediate some of the positive effects. SHRMPMC
Context Rules. When power asymmetry enters (direct or indirect supervisory ties), risks spike: perceived unfairness, trust erosion, and legal exposure if things sour. (This is the red line most policies now draw.) SAGE Journals. Power asymmetry impacts may fluctuate culturally.
Secrecy is Stressful. Emerging scholarship suggests nondisclosure itself can harm well-being and job satisfaction—an argument for safe, non-punitive disclosure channels over hush-hush arrangements. SAGE Journals
Culture Matters. Whether a romance damages reputations depends partly on the organization’s norms and communication, not just the relationship itself. The old model predicted this; hybrid work simply made those cultural signals more salient. Herman Aguinis
The 2025 HR Playbook (Simple, Humane, Defensible)
1) Draw the red lines.
Ban supervisor–subordinate relationships. No exceptions. It protects the people involved and the team around them. SHRM
2) Require disclosure when conflicts are possible.
If a relationship could influence reporting, promotion, or key assignments, require confidential disclosure to HR or a designated leader. Make it safe—punishment breeds secrecy, and secrecy breeds risk. SHRM
3) Use Consensual Relationship Agreements (carefully).
These acknowledge consent, restate anti-harassment rules, and set boundaries. They are not magic shields, but they make expectations explicit. (Many risk and HR advisories now recommend them for peer-level couples.) rmmagazine.com
4) Plan the breakup before it happens.
Spell out how transfers, reassignments, and client coverage work if things end. It’s dignity insurance for the people—and continuity insurance for the business. HR Dive
5) Train managers for gray areas.
Give managers scripts for rumor control, fairness narratives, and early intervention when boundaries blur. Remember, gentle reader, that the fastest way to keep trust is to show how decisions get made. SHRM
The Cultural Shift You Can’t Ignore
The hush is fading. Gen Z especially treats workplace romance as an ordinary way to meet a long-term partner—and expects employers to handle it like adults handle weather: plan for it, don’t moralize it.
That’s an opportunity. Transparent, humane, even-handed policies say, “You’re human; be professional.” Done right, the culture gets stronger, not weaker. Business Insider
Bottom Line
The return to the office didn’t invent office romance; it merely reinstated the conditions that have always made it possible: proximity, shared purpose, and unscripted signals of character.
What’s new is the mix—hybrid schedules, bolder disclosure, and policies that treat love as likely, not scandalous.
When HR holds the lines on power, consent, and fairness, the office can be both a place to build careers and, sometimes, something lasting after hours. Business InsiderSHRM
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Business Insider. (2025, April 27). Hybrid work didn’t kill office romances — but now you have to “manufacture serendipity” to make them happen (L. Dodgson). https://www.businessinsider.com/office-romances-dating-colleagues-relationships-hybrid-work-pandemic-2025-4 Business Insider
Hoover, A. (2025, August 11). Sick of dating apps, Gen Z is looking for love in the office. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/return-to-office-romance-genz-love-dating-apps-coldplaygate-2025-8 Business Insider
Khan, M. A. S., Usman, M., & Ahmad, M. I. (2017). Moderated mediation model of interrelations between workplace romance, wellbeing, and employee performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2158. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02158 (open-access text) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5736047/PMC
Pierce, C. A., Byrne, D., & Aguinis, H. (1996). Attraction in organizations: A model of workplace romance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17(1), 5–32. (author PDF) https://hermanaguinis.com/pdf/JOB1996.pdfHerman Aguinis
Pierce, C. A., Aguinis, H., & Adams, S. K. R. (2000). Effects of a dissolved workplace romance and rater characteristics on responses to a sexual-harassment accusation. Academy of Management Journal, 43(5), 869–880. (overview & citations) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1059601101262005 SAGE Journals
Society for Human Resource Management. (2024, February 14). New SHRM research shows workplace relationships contribute to positive workplace outcomes. https://www.shrm.org/about/press-room/new-shrm-research-shows-workplace-relationships-contribute-to-po SHRM
Society for Human Resource Management. (2024, February 14). 2024 Workplace Romance Research.https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/2024-workplace-romance SHRM
Society for Human Resource Management. (2025, February 10). 2025 Workplace Romance Research (infographic & methodology). https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/2025-workplace-romance-research and infographic PDF https://www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/2025-shrm-workplace-romance-infographic.pdfSHRM+1
Society for Human Resource Management. (2025, February 11). Love, ambition, or both? New SHRM research reveals the motivations behind workplace romance. https://www.shrm.org/about/press-room/love--ambition--or-both--new-shrm-research-reveals-the-motivatio SHRM
The Atlantic. (2020, December 31). Konrath, S. What the pandemic has done for dating.https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/what-pandemic-has-done-dating/617502/ The Atlantic
The Wall Street Journal. (2024, September 15). Office romances aren’t new—why are they still so complicated?https://www.wsj.com/business/office-romances-arent-newwhy-are-they-still-so-complicated-3b8492c7 Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal. (2025, July 13). In America’s return to the office, women are falling behind.https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-office-gender-gap-236392aa