In the pub or during a party it is not surprising, but in the workplace it is not generally accepted:flirting. As many as seventy percent of Dutch employees even consider this inappropriate. Men generally find flirting in the workplace less disruptive than women:while 77 percent of women find flirting in the workplace inappropriate, only 63 percent of men have a problem with it. This is apparent from research by AG5 into both forms of flirting among 1,159 working Dutch people aged eighteen and older.
Women least like touch
Of course, touch is unavoidable during business meetings, not shaking hands would be rude. But anything more than that is quickly seen as inappropriate. 51 percent of working Dutch people prefer not to be touched by a colleague or customer during a business conversation. Women in particular (59 percent) prefer to receive a pat on the back figuratively rather than literally; among men this is 44 percent. Women (71 percent) in their thirties find touching the most annoying. Want to know more about differences between men and women and ages? Then take a look at the visual.
Although the vast majority of working Dutch people find business flirting inappropriate, five percent have flirted during a job interview to get a job. More than six percent of men say they have used their charms to get a job, compared to three percent of women (that is, double that!).
Our research shows that three in ten employees find it difficult to have a business conversation with a colleague or customer they are physically attracted to. More women (34 percent) than men (27 percent) have difficulty with this. Strikingly enough, among employees under the age of thirty, it appears that men (32 percent) have more difficulty here than women (27 percent). As many as forty percent of working women in their thirties have difficulty with this.
