Office romances are acceptable, most of the time, according to a study.

According to one Ryerson University professor, most colleagues don't find anything against office romances as long as they don't directly disturb their fellow co-workers.

Most people believe romantic relationships are OK as long as they don't affect productivity, de-motivate other colleagues or have an impact on the overall work environment, says Nina Cole, an associate professor in the Ted Rogers School of Business Management.

An estimated 40 percent of employees said they have had a work romance at one point or another in their careers, according to a 2005 study by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Wall Street Journal.

Cole said that in today's modern workplace, romances are very common.

The study involved 100 employees who were pursuing either full- or part-time studies at Ryerson University, and who had, at one point, observed a romance in the workplace.

Seventy-five percent of those romances involved two single employees, 76 percent in a peer-working relationship and 65 percent in the same department.

The average length of these office romances was 20 months.