With the return to the office came the return of the office crush, and it seems employees are taking things into their own hands when it comes to unrequited love. Literally.
Gone are the days of dreaming about a steamy kiss in the printer room or sharing longing looks over the water cooler. Now, people are turning to porn.
In Pornhub’s 2024 review, searches involving the term ‘coworker’ rose by 92%. And rather fittingly, those searching for ‘f**king coworker’ increased by 69%.
It’s not like being attracted to a coworker is anything new. In the days before dating apps, once you’d left school or university, your next best dating pool was the workplace. So why is 2024 the year it’s taken off?
Psychosexual therapist Ness Cooper tells Metro that the return to IRL work following the pandemic has shifted professional relationships along with it.
‘Many colleagues may have been connected via online work and culture while working from home,’ she explains. ‘But if you’ve suddenly been working with them in-person for the past year, it’s likely you’ve formed different attachments with their in-person personas.’
In a world where we’re increasingly online, Ness isn’t surprised we’re all suddenly enjoying some self-care to thoughts of Shauna in HR or Barry in accounts.
She adds: ‘We have less and less face-to-face interaction than ever, and most forms of traditional dating have been turned into online experiences.
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‘It makes sense that we crave in-person interactions – and the most time spent in-person with other humans is during the working day. But then, we spend so much time at work than it can then be hard to find energy for activities outside of work.’
Essentially, because we’re left without much ‘social battery’ to see with friends outside of work, our colleagues are more readily available in our minds, prompting us to seek out naughty workplace fantasies on the likes of Pornhub.
Straight to HR
It’s all well and good if you’re having a sneaky self love session at home, but what would happen if HR found out you’d been pleasuring yourself to workplace porn?
Eyebrows were already raised at the revelation that more than one in 10 Brits have had sex on the clock while they were WFH. Men were more likely than women to do so, with 25 to 34-year-olds also being more prone to naughty behaviour during business hours.
Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR consultants Hamilton Nash, tells Metro that watching coworker porn is something you definitely want to keep to yourself.
‘Nobody can police what we think,’ he says. ‘But if you’re having romantic thoughts about a colleague while attending to “urgent personal matters”, mentioning this at work will leave you at the sticky end of a sexual harassment complaint.’
It goes without saying, you definitely don’t want to be watching this type of porn – or any type, for that matter – in the office either.
Jim adds: ‘Being discovered watching any inappropriate material at work could lead to disciplinary issues. If it was found to resemble a coworker, any behaviour or actions towards that colleague could suddenly be put under a spotlight.
‘Behaviour that seemed innocent previously could be reinterpreted in a different light, and if the colleague made a complaint, there could be repercussions including potential sexual harassment action.’
Ultimately though, Jim says what you watch in your private life is up to you – as long as it’s lawful. But it’s worth keeping in mind: ‘The moment you start talking about or sharing links to pornography, especially with colleagues, you’re exposing yourself to a host of potentially legitimate aforementioned complaints’.
A stress reliever
For those indulging their co-worker fantasies safely at home, more specific saucy searches include ‘cheating coworker’ (up 71%), ‘office affair’ (up 25%) and ‘workplace fantasy’ (up 57%).
Among the other requests workers were having the big O to, queries for ‘coworker blowjob’ increased by 55% while ‘workplace orgy’ rose by 19%.
How to handle having sexual fantasies about a colleague
Are you partly responsible for the surge in coworker porn? Ness has some tips if your personal pleasure is centred around a certain workmate in particular…
- Ask yourself if there any work-related stresses you are trying to self-soothe.
- Understand that it’s okay to have sexual fantasies and that they do not have to be acted on.
- Explore how your work interactions may have lead to different attachments with different colleagues.
- See if any of the people you’re fantasising about remind you of past relationships.
- Understand that watching this type of porn is a safe and healthy outlet without having to put anything into action.
According to Ness, this flurry of searches could also be prompted by a mass need for stress relief.
She says: ‘The rise in coworker porn may be our brains trying to self soothe during stressful situations, by looking for parts of work that reduce stress – like a supportive coworker.’
And there could be power dynamics at play as well, with Ness explaining: ‘Sexual fantasies also allow a safe space to explore positions of power you can’t enter into easily within the workplace, such as the positions your co-workers may have that you don’t.’
Whatever your motivation, just exercise caution and common sense – no self-love session is worth your job.
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