The kind of research much beloved by the media, and the stuff that makes lifestyle writers go wild, made an outing this week – a psychology study on flirting in the workplace.
According to researchers at the University of Surrey, if a man flirts with you at work, they are not necessarily doing it because they find you attractive – they’re probably just bored.
The study was based on the responses of more than 200 men and women between the ages of 21 and 68, who answered questions on how frequently they exhibited flirtatious behaviour and their job satisfaction levels.
When I spoke to Dr Adrian Banks, who was one half of the researching team who carried out the study at the university, he explained that they decided to conduct the research because of media claims that flirting at work can enhance career prospects, bring success and improve job satisfaction.
He pointed out that these assertions were largely unfounded with no supporting evidence.
Our chat ended with some pretty solid advice.
“The only thing we want to make clear is when flirting is appropriate and inappropriate – clearly flirting with people who don’t want to be flirted with is never a good idea,” said Dr Banks.
“The last thing we would want to encourage is inappropriate behaviours in the workplace.”