With lockdown casting a critical eye on our relationships, recent studies have reported that 41% of women and 60% of men were dissatisfied with their sex lives during quarantine. As lockdown measures begin to ease, it begs the question of whether those missing a spark at home will seek pleasure elsewhere.
Intrigued to find out, Resume.io surveyed Brits to reveal what percentage of professionals are guilty of cheating, how many have been unfaithful with a colleague and uncover which professions are most and least faithful to their partners.
How Faithful Really is the UK?
Out of 2,400 respondents, a staggering 46% admitted to having cheated on a partner - almost half of those surveyed! Alarmingly, this means that just over half of the professionals appear to have kept their vow to stay faithful to their loved one.
Of those that did cheat, 70% blame uncontrollable sexual desires for their betrayal, making this the leading reason behind cheating. Meanwhile, it was situational factors and opportunity that 20% of Brits say drove them to cheat, leaving 1 in 10 Brits seeking to defend their actions on the basis of low self-esteem.
So, are 46% of Brits’ relationships in disrepair? Apparently not. In fact, upon being asked whether there were any repercussions for their cheating ways, 90% of cheats said they ‘got away with it’, with only 30% vowing not to do it again. Of the 10% of relationships where a partner did discover the cheating, those surveyed had all managed to work through the past and remain together.
With almost half of Britain admitting to cheating, we sought to uncover whether there was a correlation between unfaithful tendencies and professional roles. Spoiler alert - there is!
The Professions MOST Likely to Cheat
In fact, a whopping 6 in 10 of Advertising and PR professionals admitted to being a cheat, crowning them with the unfortunate title of the professionals most likely to cheat!
Shortly behind and placing second were professionals in Education, with over half (54%) of those in this profession confessing to having had a heated affair behind a partner’s back.
Rounding off the three professions most likely to cheat was Computer Software professionals, suggesting that these technical wizards must get a lot more attention than we give them credit for. With an overwhelming 46% of those in Computer Software admitting to being unfaithful, they narrowly stole third place from those in Construction, a profession in which 42% confessed to deceit.
Also placing within the top five professions most likely to cheat was Doctors and Health Professionals, with 4 in 10 of these admitting to cheating in our survey.
The Professions LEAST Likely to Cheat
However, for those in a relationship with a Manufacturing professional, the picture was far less bleak. In fact, of the 20 occupations surveyed, those in Manufacturing were crowned the most faithful, with only 1% admitting to cheating on a partner.
Those that worked in the Environmental sector placed as the second least likely profession to cheat, with just 2% of professionals guilty of adultery. Publishing and Printing professionals were next, also appearing to be very content with their love lives, since they narrowly missed out on second place with only 3% admitting to cheating.
Rounding off the top five professions least likely to cheat were professional working in the Farming and Architecture industries, with 5% of people surveyed confessing to double-dealing.
How many Brits Cheat at Work?
With a clear correlation between cheating tendencies and professions, Resume.io wondered how many professionals have cheated with colleagues, particularly within unfaithful professions.
Of those surveyed, almost 1 in 3 revealed that they have cheated with a colleague. Despite such a large proportion confessing, it was found that none of these workplace affairs blossomed into anything more, with 100% sharing that they and said colleague did not end up together.
If you’re wondering how their infidelity went down with other colleagues, it wasn’t as awful as we might expect. In fact, 67% reported that other colleagues never found out about their actions. Meanwhile, 17% revealed that colleagues found out, yet ignored the deceit, leaving only 17% judged by their fellow colleagues.
Methodology
Resume.io surveyed 2,400 professionals from across the UK. Of those surveyed, 43% of respondents were male and 57% were female.
Resume.io included 20 sectors within the study, breaking down to approximately 100 people per sector. The sectors included were as follows: Advertising / Public Relations, Education, Computer Software, Construction, Doctors and Other Health Professionals, Professional Theatre, Food and Hospitality, Law, Finance, Hotels and Tourism, Transportation, Public and Civil Officials, Accountants, Real Estate, Dentists, Farming, Agricultural Services, Publishing and Printing, Environment and Manufacturing.
