Sucking up to the boss is standard workplace behaviour, but just how far would you be willing to take it to further your career? Would you trade sexual favours for career advancement? One in three people would consider sleeping their way to the top and one in ten have already shagged the boss to gain promotion, according to a recent survey of over 10,000 Britons by Aol.
It is a risky strategy, as a 2002 poll of 5,000 working women by Top Sante magazine showed. Only 12 per cent of those who got off to get on were subsequently promoted. There are several reasons why sleeping with the boss doesn't often secure promotion. Generally the trade-off is not as explicit as 'do this, get that', so you have no real way of knowing if your horizontal aerobics will further your cause. What's more the person you're bedding may not have the power or influence to appoint you - even if they felt obliged to.
If you are blatant in your intent, negotiating terms is a minefield. If you fulfil your half of the bargain ahead of getting promoted, you have no guarantee that he will fulfil his. And, of course, he may have no intention of doing anything other than having sex.
Even if it does work, you are likely to face Special Brew strength hostility from your underlings and colleagues. There's no such thing as a secret in an office environment and if you didn't get where you are today without screwing the boss you can bank on the fact that everyone is bitching about it behind your back. Every management position requires co-operation and if you've taken the mattress route you are unlikely to get it.
"It's a very bad strategy from several points of view," says Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at the University of Manchester. "It will have a negative effect on how people perceive you and may prevent you from getting further on. It may get you the job you want now, but [sleeping with the boss] won't work all the way up the career ladder and ultimately it won't give you the self confidence you need to succeed."
To a degree everyone uses their sexuality in the workplace. "Both men and women use normal aspects of their characters. You use your self confidence and interpersonal skills to get on," he comments. That kind of flirting says a lot about a person's confidence and self-esteem. Using sex speaks volumes about a lack of self-belief. People who try to sleep their way to the top may feel that there's no other way for them to progress or that they don't deserve to on the basis of their own skills, Cooper says.
The most successful strategy for women in the workplace - and the one that the most successful women practice - is to harness your innate drive and ambition and to use your expertise. "Women can be so highly motivated, so driven," he notes. Slipping between the sheets is a bit of a cop out by comparison.
