Infidelity at work doesn’t just ruin your “I do”
Resisting the hottie at the office or the hunk at headquarters can be a serious challenge for married men and women. For some, the temptation to have an affair with a hot co-worker is simply too great to resist.
However, new research warns that having sex with a co-worker could not only lead couples to divorce court, but could also set the children of divorcing couples on a path to lifelong destruction.
“Gender-balanced workplaces make it easier for people to meet other potential partners,” Martin Halla, lead author of the August 2024 report, said in a statement.
Halla, a professor of health and digital economics at the University of Vienna in Austria, and Liz, an analyst at Johannes Kepler University, surveyed 355,100 minors to determine “…the effects of divorce on children whose fathers leave the family home after meeting a new partner at work.”
Researchers found that 13.5 percent of young children witnessed their parents divorce before the age of 18.
While the scorned husband or wife is the obvious victim of workplace misconduct, Harrah and his team determined that the children are the real victims.
“These children are statistically more likely to have children at a younger age and have lower levels of education,” the scientists said.
“For both boys and girls, the likelihood of attending college was reduced by 9 to 10 percentage points,” the researchers said of young people whose parents broke up because of an office romance.
“Boys also fare worse in the job market and are more likely to die before age 25,” the experts continued. “Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to get pregnant at a young age.”
Halla hopes his findings will encourage his boisterous colleagues to consider the well-being of their children before engaging in sexual relations.
“These results suggest that considering the best interests of children affected by divorce must be more than just empty rhetoric,” he urged.
“Because the consequences that children suffer will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”
Despite the hurt it causes, it’s no secret that playful 9-to-5 workers are more likely to cheat on their spouses.
In fact, a recent poll by adult toy company LoveHoney revealed that a whopping 40% of American employees admit to having had sex or a romantic relationship with a co-worker.
A survey by online gambling hub RantCasino also found that 85% of extramarital affairs take place in office cubicles, with one in five employees admitting to cheating on a colleague.
“The workplace is undoubtedly fertile ground for extramarital affairs,” Laura O’Brien, chief spokesperson for RantCasino, previously told The Washington Post.