As Valentine’s Day approaches, almost two-fifths of British office workers have admitted to keeping their love lines open during the working day.

Their liaisons could be costing UK employers an astounding £10 billion a year, says HR experts Croner, part of Wolters Kluwer UK.

The research conducted by YouGov on behalf of Croner, found that 37 per cent of people use workplace communications equipment to conduct their personal relationships during office hours.

Office e-mail systems were the most popular means of personal communication amongst the 1,198 British adult workers surveyed, with 22 per cent of respondents saying they had used them to conduct a personal or romantic relationship with their loved ones.

The work desk phone (21 per cent) came next in the list, with personal e-mail accounts (18 per cent) and social networking sites (11 per cent) accessed via the office computer and work mobile phones (6 per cent) following on.

Male employees – the surprising romantics

Men are the most likely of the two sexes to use work equipment to keep in touch with their loved ones, with 39 per cent saying they did so at least on a daily basis.

Seven per cent of these admitting to doing so every single hour of the working day (as opposed to 28 per cent and one per cent respectively).

North/south divide

People working in London and the south are the most likely group to be found on personal calls or e-mails, with their peers in Scotland least likely to be doing so.

Whilst younger workers made greatest use of websites like Facebook and MySpace, their older colleagues are more likely to stick to more traditional means of communication.

With each worker costing an average of £17.80 to employ every hour, Croner HR expert Gillian Dowling is advising bosses to make sure their employees understand company policies on using workplace equipment for personal reasons, and to put clear rules in place if they don’t have them already.

She says that most employers will allow staff to make the odd personal call or send a few e-mails during the day within reason, but that the potential for company losses in terms of both time and money is almost limitless if they don’t set clear boundaries.

Serious disciplinary action 

Dowling explains that employees should also remember that there may be no such thing as a personal call or e-mail if it is made or sent on equipment owned by their employer.

Bosses may be monitoring their own systems, and staff could end up facing serious disciplinary action if they are found to be making excessive, illicit or even illegal personal use of communications equipment.

“Clarity is the key to avoiding and managing all these issues before they arise. Staff need to understand what is and isn’t seen as acceptable personal use of company equipment, and what the consequences are of stepping outside these boundaries,” she concludes.

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