Dating and corporate America have more to do with each other than we think, and companies may be able to take lessons from the dating world to improve relationships in the workplace, one expert says.
Lakshmi Rengarajan has had experience in both dating and the corporate world. She is a former director of brand strategy for Match.com, one of the oldest dating websites and the owner of Tinder and Hinge. She was also a “workplace connection advisor” at WeWork, where she worked to improve the bonds between employees.
Now, she is embarking on a project called How to Date Humans in which she is hosting a series of talks and workshops over the course of a year to examine modern dating, why it’s broken, and how it can be fixed.
Speaking at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit Wednesday, Rengarajan argued dating and corporate relationships are intertwined.
One of the most obvious comparisons may be the similarities between “ghosting” and “quiet quitting” in the workplace. Both behaviors, which involve not responding or dropping out, don’t mean a person doesn’t care. It means they don’t have the language or skills to meet the moment, she said.
When employees don’t have the tools to navigate an uncomfortable or complex situation, they may instead disconnect.
“In both dating and work we’re trying to figure out what other people are, we’re trying to see if we can build something, and sometimes we don’t know what we’re experiencing,” Rengarajan said.
The similarities between work and dating also extend to the increasing fracture between our work lives and our personal lives. While the cultivation of a professional persona is nothing new, the idea has been reinvigorated by younger workers.
Online, some Gen Zers promote the idea of implementing strict boundaries between a person’s work and home lives by encouraging young workers not to “bring your whole self to work.” About 62% of Gen Z workers worldwide said they hide aspects of themselves at work, up from 55% in 2024, according to a 2025 study by human resources firm Randstad. Those who advocate for this approach say it helps workers be more productive and avoid workplace drama.
Rengarajam, though, said some of a person’s closest relationships can be with colleagues. She noted at her first corporate job she asked a colleague for help with navigating PowerPoint— six years later she was a bridesmaid at her wedding.
For companies, fostering connection requires what she calls a “connection strategy,” which adapts to different teams and different times of the year to be most effective. She said this is especially important as workplaces change at a rapid pace.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that in the last five years the workplace has been completely reshaped. First, the explosion of remote work during the pandemic strained ties between colleagues who once saw each other in the office every day. Now, the implementation of AI tools in the workplace has many wondering how secure their job is and comparing themselves with others.
Ultimately, a company’s connection strategy must be mindful of all these changes, while at the same time placing human relationships at the forefront.
“What people are starting to say about love and about work is what is going to keep me human,” Rengarajan said. “Is the place where I’m at, is the relationship where I’m at, is the way that I’m doing something going to keep me as human as possible amidst all of this change?”
