In an age where hustle culture reigns supreme and everyone’s side hustle has a side hustle, even a little positivity can feel like a luxury. The economy is spiralling, hemlines are getting longer, TikTok won’t stop talking about the lipstick theory, and Gen Z is now a major part of the workforce just in time for a recession and a world at the brink of war. Yes, the news is bleak, and deadlines are forever looming. And romance? Who has the time?
But what if I told you, amid the chaos of unread emails and passive-aggressive Teams messages, there’s something to be said about the good ol’ office crush. A bright spark in the Monday morning gloom. Whether it’s someone who always shows up early to Zoom calls or the coworker who makes coffee breaks suspiciously more fun, an office crush brings a dose of harmless excitement. Suddenly, morning check-ins don’t seem so bad, and even those water-cooler conversations start to feel like scenes from a romcom set in late capitalism.
Case in point: 24-year-old Ananya*, who joined a newsroom straight out of college—idealistic, single, and promptly thrown into the worst shifts. “The only thing that kept me going,” she says, “was a crush on a senior who barely knew my name.” Said senior would appear during her godforsaken late-night shifts, and just seeing his jacket hanging over his chair made her heart do jazz hands. “It all started after he held a door open for me on a random Thursday. That was it. Boom. Butterflies. Suddenly, every group email with his name on it felt like a love letter from the universe.” They eventually became friends, but she swears it was that silly, silent crush that helped her survive the soul-crushing probation period. Honestly, same. Who needs therapy when you have a mysterious cutie two floors down and just enough delulu to get through Q1?
And turns out your delulu little office crush might actually be good for you. Studies (real, peer-reviewed ones, not just your group chat) say that having a workplace romance or crush can boost productivity. In fact, according to SHRM’s 2025 Workplace Romance Research, 63% managers agreed that workplace romances had a positive impact on their team’s dynamics. Having a crush can keep you invested in work, at least for the honeymoon phase. So, if you’re showing up to your 9 am staff meeting in your best shirt because they might be there... congrats, you’re scientifically thriving.
Ananya’s story, in all its romcom glory, lines up perfectly with what the study says. “As stupid as this sounds, my work significantly improved because I didn’t want to look incompetent in front of him,” she admits. “I’d actually show up to my shift on time, put in the hours, try harder just to maybe get a compliment.” And when it finally happened? “He once praised a story I’d written, and I was on cloud nine for a whole week,” she says, giggling. Sure, in hindsight, it might feel a little tween-y to be crushing that hard at your first “big girl job” but she has no regrets. “It sounds embarrassing now, crushing over a boy like I was in middle school, but what the heck…it helped,” she shrugs. Sometimes, it’s not ambition or caffeine that fuels your corporate climb. It’s a cute guy who knows how to use the office microwave and give good feedback.
The whole idea feels so 2000s-coded, something you’d expect in a Bridget Jones diary entry or a Katherine Heigl movie where the lead is hopelessly swooning over her (usually emotionally unavailable) boss. But these days, no one really talks about work crushes anymore.
Maybe it’s because social media has become an endless scroll of perfect couples soft-launching vacations and matching oat milk lattes, making it harder to admit you’re single and fantasising about that guy from HR. Even pop culture has moved on. Recent workplace romances lean more toward the frenemies-to-lovers genre (The Hating Game), less about the quiet, one-sided crushes that bloom during budget meetings and badly lit coffee breaks. We’re all just too busy grinding in this capitalistic hellscape to romanticise a glance across the Google Meet grid. But maybe…we should.
With Gen Z collectively hitting the wall of dating app fatigue, it’s no surprise they’re craving more offline connections. Tired of swiping and ghosting, many are turning their attention to the people right in front of them—at work and co-working spaces. The desire to log off and engage in real-world flirting feels like a quiet rebellion against the algorithm.
Sharanya Dutta, a 26-year-old software engineer at a health-based tech startup, is deep in her offline era. “I’m currently harbouring a crush on my colleague because I’m so done with apps!” she shares. “I met my ex on Bumble, and the experience has made me swear off dating for a while.” Like many others, Dutta is also finding comfort in her work crush because, frankly, she doesn’t have the bandwidth for anything else. “I work 11-hour shifts regularly. I can’t change my work culture or make more time outside of work to meet someone new,” she admits. “These circumstances kind of made me look at my colleague whom I’ve been working with for the past three years in a new light. When did he get this new haircut? Did he change his wardrobe? I think I’ve been laughing a little too hard at his jokes.” She’s even been skipping work-from-home days just to show up at the office. “Having a crush on him has also made him…less annoying?” she jokes. “But I’m scared to admit this to my work bestie. If word gets out, I’m done for.” Best case: Never hear the end of it. Worst case: Report to HR.
Work crushes can be a total vibe—morale-boosting, productivity-enhancing, and genuinely fun. But while they can be delightful little distractions, not everyone you blush around is going to be the Pam to your Jim. It’s easy to get carried away, and when reality doesn’t match the daydream, things can get messy, especially when you still have to sit two seats away from them every day. Kabir*, a 23-year-old graphic designer, learned this the hard way. “I let my crush on my desk-mate delude me into creating an entire fantasy world, one that she wasn’t even aware of,” he admits. At a time when things were rough at home, the crush gave him a reason to get out of bed. “Then she got engaged to her high school sweetheart, and it shattered me more than I expected,” he says. “I started slipping up, missing deadlines, making small mistakes. It showed.”
The trick to enjoying a work crush is simple: indulge, don’t spiral. Let it add a little sparkle to your spreadsheets and pep to your Monday meetings but don’t let it derail your deliverables. Talk to your friends about it. Your besties are basically your personal board of directors. Like in Sex and the City, when Carrie got too deep in her Big feelings, it was her girlfriends who pulled her back with a reality check and a martini.
Ridhima Vohra, a Delhi-based HR professional, says the workplace isn’t necessarily the no-love zone it once was. “Most companies aren’t against workplace relationships. They just have policies about declaring it. I’ve dealt with several cases. And in cases of flirtation and crushes, we need the emotional intelligence to understand what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Post the #MeToo era, people have definitely become more sensitive and also overly cautious.”
So go ahead, flirt responsibly, daydream generously and let your work crush be the little serotonin boost that gets you through your morning meetings. Just don’t let it derail your KPIs or make you forget who’s actually signing your paycheck (hint: it’s not the guy with the great jawline and even better Excel skills).
*Some names have been changed or withheld to protect the identity of the person.
