PASSION in the workplace is on the up in North Yorkshire, according to a new survey.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Yorkshire-based business law specialists Irwin Mitchell discovered that 40 per cent of workers questioned have canoodled with a colleague after hours.

Almost a quarter have paired off with a future partner while doing their job.

The survey also revealed that nearly a third of people claim to have taken things further with a co-worker they fancied and more than a quarter say they have been propositioned in the workplace.

But office romances don't seem to be a disaster for businesses.

The survey claims only six per cent of employees say a workplace relationship has impaired their performance on the job. Only three per cent said finding love at work had negatively affected their career.

Four in ten people questioned said staff dating colleagues was inevitable as people now spent so much of their time at work.

Matthew Brain, an employment law expert with Irwin Mitchell, said: "The findings show romances between colleagues are very common and people tend to accept this.

"There seems no prospect of workplaces diminishing in importance as a meeting place for potential partners in the future."

Updated: 11:27 Thursday, February 12, 2004