About Half Of IT Workers Admit Sleeping On The Job, Kissing Co-Workers

Does your job wear you out? You're not alone. More than half of IT workers say they've fallen asleep at work, according to a new online survey.

And nearly half of techies also are apparently in the mood for love. Forty-seven percent of tech pros admit they've kissed a co-worker, according to the online survey of 5,700 U.S. workers, including 163 techies, conducted by Harris Interactive for job site CareerBuilder.com.

The survey didn't indicate if those work taboos were committed by the same respondents, but in both cases, men were more likely to admit doing both.

Forty-nine percent of male techies say they've fallen asleep at work, while only 35% of women admit doing so.

As for smooching, 44% of men techies say they've kissed a co-worker, while only 34% confessed to puckering up with a colleague.

Across all professions surveyed, 45% admitted to having fallen asleep on the job. And nearly two-thirds of government workers -- 64% -- admitted to falling asleep on the job. Maybe because they spend so much time on their feet, workers in retail were least likely to fall asleep on the job.

As for the kissing, only hospitality workers -- 53% -- were more lovely-dovey with co-workers than IT workers. Across all professions, only 39% of respondents confessed to kissing a colleague.

When it comes to on-the-job partying, one in four IT workers -- the same as the average across all professions -- say they've consumed alcohol while on the job.

So what's going on? CareerBuilder career adviser Tanya Flynn says the number of workers admitting to committing workplace taboos, especially sleeping, kissing, and drinking on the job, has been rising since the company began the annual poll three years ago.

Flynn suspects a convergence of life/work environments is part of the reason, with people spending more time in the office.

But those infractions might not seem so bad when compared to some of the other admitted office taboos by workers.

Twenty-three percent of techies say they've stolen from the office, while the overall average was 22%. Meanwhile, 20% of IT workers say they've snooped after hours, a little higher than the 18% average, but not that bad when considering the access that techies have to company information.

Only 12% of techies admit spreading a rumor about co-workers. Only 3% of tech pros admit to lying about their academic background, and a mere 1% say they've taken credit for someone else's work.

"Lying about your academic background or on your resumé is getting harder to do because it's getting so much easier for employers to look that info up on the Web and elsewhere," Flynn says.