How are UK employees getting the attention of their office crush?

October 6, 2022

When it comes to crushes, they may happen in any aspect of your life – including at the office, with nearly a fifth of Brits meeting their partner through work, according to a YouGov survey.

Getting the attention of an office crush has to be done delicately, so how do people prefer to show their interest?

The theory of ‘love languages’ has been gaining popularity. They’re useful for understanding how to build relationships with others, romantic or otherwise and could be the key to unpacking how people are being noticed by their crush.

What are the five love languages?

Pastor Gary Chapman created the concept of the five love languages as a way to explain personal preferences for how people prefer to receive and show affection. Using love languages is how we emotionally communicate, so understanding how they work can help us to get closer to others.

The five love languages are words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch. We all tend towards one or two as the way we prefer to be shown care.

Can they be applied in the workplace?

Leaflets specialist instantprint conducted a survey of 2,000 Brits to see how they prefer to show a colleague they’re interested in them. Out of the top ten tactics, four are relevant to the love language of quality time. This was the top personal love language in the survey, with a third of those surveyed claiming it as their preference. In an office context, this meant checking in with your crush regularly, asking for their help with a task, asking them on a date and spending lunch breaks with them. As many of these are also relevant to building strong working relationships within a team, they work well for romantically interested and uninterested parties.

Acts of service were also well-liked, including dressing well, following them on social media and updating your work profile picture. As these are passive methods, they’re a respectful way to try to get their attention.

Congratulating achievements was favoured by over a fifth of those surveyed and using emojis when talking to your crush resonated with 18% of people. These are relevant to the love language of words of affirmation, the third most popular tactic. Bear in mind that these are common practices in friendly workplaces nowadays, so wishes of congratulations and the use of emojis may just be part of the office culture.

How not to get the attention of your office crush

It’s important to note that respect and consent is crucial any time you show interest in someone, but especially so in the workplace. For example, although one of the best-liked love languages is touch, this isn’t appropriate with colleagues and should never be used in such a context. This is supported by instantprint’s survey: the most preferred approaches to get an office crush’s attention don’t feature any tactic relevant to physical touch.

The least common personal love languages were also some of the least used for being noticed by a colleague. Receiving gifts came in last place of the five languages and only featured once in the list of top ten tactics; sending funny GIFs was preferred by 11% of respondents. As many companies have policies about giving and receiving gifts in the workplace, this love language is largely best avoided too.

Did you meet your partner at work? How did you get their attention? Let us know in the comments.