Click to play videoNew Delhi: Are you a girl who saves her coffee breaks for your guy friend in office? Are you a guy who would rather seek work advice from a particular female co-worker?
And are you the two who frequently share gripe sessions on how unreasonable/uncooperative/unwanted your bosses are and continue during the lunches and breaks?
If you have said yes to the above then you have an office spouse!
Twelve hours a day and six days a week - that is the average time most of us spend at work.
No wonder then office relationships are becoming more significant in our lives.
With office romances becoming old hat, it's the day and age of the office spouse.
Office spouses are platonic, very close, opposite-sex buddies with no romantic strings attached.
With uncompromising deadlines, mind-bending pressure and stress on constant output, we feel the need more than ever to lean on a friendly shoulder.
So what has fuelled the trend?
The primary reason is the long office hours. Another reason is that workplaces are no longer a male-dominated territory. There are many more women on the professional battlefield today.
While having a sounding board at work relieves stress, there is more to an office spouse than being a stress-buster.
Co-workers Vineet and Sushmita are one such office couple. “If the boss asks and one of us is not around, the other can make up for it. There are times when you can just sit and chat up with someone; or if you have to go out for a movie, you don’t have to make plans with a group,” Vineet says.
“Its not just that. When you are working with someone and are stuck in a situation where you want to go out somewhere, it helps. If I am not comfortable with the one I am working, I can’t go and say that ‘Let’s go somewhere’,” Sushmita adds.
Now for the flip side. Spending long hours together at work and after, connecting at an emotional level may translate into something romantic - and that is bad news if there is someone else waiting back home.
If you are senior to your office spouse, you may also be accused of playing favorites. Psychologist Arpita Anand lays down some ground rules to make the office marriage work.
”Transparency and communication are the keys to keeping all relationships work,” she says.
If they maintain boundaries in these relationships, there is no reason why office spouses cannot enjoy a happily ever after till the 5 pm deadline do them apart!
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