Love won and lost in the office

The office romance can be fraught but that doesn't mean it can't work, as AAP's Lisa Martin discovers.

Jude Bailey had her eye on "office spunk" Simon Lentjes from the first day they started a graduate program at AGL in Sydney.

They started a clandestine relationship a year later and initially kept things hush-hush.

"We'd come back from lunch and catch different lifts so it didn't look obvious," she says.

"We were in our early twenties and didn't have a huge care factor, so we would always turn up to work late, lots of long lunch breaks and sometimes we'd turn up in the same clothes the next day."

Fast forward fifteen years and Jude and Simon's office romance is a case of "happily ever after." The couple are married, with two daughters, Abbey, 4, and Neve, 18 months, and live in Margaret River, in Western Australia.

Jude and Simon aren't alone in finding love in the office.

According to a survey by CareerOne.com.au which questioned 941 people, one in three of us have been romantically involved with a colleague.

Psychologist Anne Hollonds from Relationships Australia says the workplace is a fertile ground for finding love.

"You spend so many hours there, and you have a lot in common... you can form very strong emotional connections and friendships," she says.

Jude, who changed her name to Lentjes, says it was a relief when they decided to tell their colleagues.

"It was like "thank god we don't have to hide it from these guys any more," she says.

"You go out for Friday night drinks, and you don't have to sit across from each other and give each other signals 'Oh you leave first, and then I'll go'.

"We thought nobody knew but they all did... they enjoyed the spectacle.

"When we finally did come clean everyone just laughed at us.

"The more you try to hide it the more obvious it is."