IT'S been labelled "the new dating agency" -- a place where romance blossoms and lasting relationships are formed.

Far from being a place of doom, gloom and despondency, we should give thanks to the office, factory or depot -- or wherever we spend our working hours -- for helping us find a partner.

Two thirds of workers have a relationship with someone at work, says an expert in workplace trends in a book which claims that, contrary to popular belief, the best years of your life are spent doing your job.

Work, says the book Happy Mondays, provides us with fulfilment, friends and romance.

I'm sure 99 per cent of people would admit that the last two categories are true. I've made many friends through work, and I met my husband there -- although, thankfully, we don't work together now. I say thankfully because, if my memory serves me rightly (which is not often the case nowadays), working together is convenient in some respects but has its problems. I can remember both good and bad points.

ADVANTAGES:

Providing your schedules are roughly the same, you can save on fuel costs by travelling there and back together.

You can keep tabs on him and throw him a psychotic glare if he spends too much time flirting with that new PA who buys her skirts from Belts R Us. It guarantees that, at least some of the time, you see each other looking reasonably presentable. As I've learned to my cost that passion can wane when you spend half your life slopping around in a 15-year-old dressing gown and a pair of grubby mules (in our house we have "his" and "hers" versions of this stylish attire).

You can liaise over household trivia like shopping lists and who's paying which bills.

DISADVANTAGES:

You would find it almost impossible to wait until you got home to remind your beloved that he failed to do last night's pots or forgot to turn off the immersion heater.

If you are embroiled in a heated argument at home, you'd have to take steps to bring your blood pressure down for an eight-hour cease-fire.

On the other hand, if you're in the early stages of romance and can't keep your hands off each other, unless you'd got your own lockable, soundproof office, you'd have to cool it until lunchtime -- when you could slope off to a quiet spot away from the crowds (Marks and Spencer ladieswear department would do).

You'd know exactly what the other was doing 24-hours-a-day.

If one of you became upset after a showdown with the boss, it would be difficult for the other to show compassion.

Relationships do survive at work. In our office, I can think of six couples. If the office continues to be such a hotbed of romance, it probably won't be long before lovers are choosing their workplace as a wedding venue and tying the knot over the photocopier. And I suppose, despite the less-than-harmonious nature of my own relationship, I should thank work for it, and for my children. Though if we still shared a desk, I'd give the marriage no more than a few hours' survival.