This is what happens to children when a parent cheats with a colleague: study

Double time on the clock can mess up more than just “I do.”

Resisting the sexy siren of the office or the crowd at headquarters can be a serious challenge for married men and women at work. For some, the temptation to cheat on a cute co-worker is just too hard to overcome.

However, new research warns that being weird to a co-worker can not only send a couple racing to divorce court – it can also send the children of the estranged couple down a path of lifelong destruction.

“Workplaces with a balanced gender ratio make it easier for people to meet other potential partners,” Martin Halla, lead author of the August 2024 report, said in a statement.

A professor of Health Economics and Digitalization at Austria’s University of Vienna, Halla, along with analysts from the Johannes Kepler Liz University, examined 355,100 minors to determine “…the effects of divorce on those children whose fathers had leave the family after meeting a new partner at work.”

The researchers found that 13.5% of the children saw their parents divorce before they turned 18.

Although the scorned husband or wife would be the obvious victim in the workplace, Halla and his team confirm that the children are the real injured parties.

“Statistically,” the scientists said, “these children were more likely to have children at a younger age and to achieve lower levels of education.”

“For boys and girls alike, the probability of attending college drops by 9 to 10 percentage points,” the researchers said of youths whose parents split up after a fight at the office.

“Boys also have poorer outcomes in the labor market and a higher probability of dying before the age of 25,” the experts continued. Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to get pregnant at a young age.

Halla hopes his findings will encourage eager coworkers to think about the well-being of their youngsters before they cook.

“These results show that considering the best interests of children affected by a divorce should be more than just an empty phrase,” he urged.

“Because children suffer consequences that they feel throughout their lives.”

Despite the damage, it’s no secret that 9-to-5ers still have a greater propensity to cheat on their spouses.

In fact, 40% of American workers have coped with having sex or engaging in a romantic relationship with a co-worker, according to a recent survey by adult toy company LoveHoney.

A survey by RantCasino, an online gambling hub, also found that 85% of affairs take place inside cubicles – with one in five employees admitting to cheating with a co-worker.

Laura O’Brien, a chief spokeswoman for RantCasino, previously told The Post, “The workplace definitely serves as a breeding ground for jobs to flourish.”