1.6 million UK workers* feel that they have never been shown appreciation at work, according to a new study.

Surveying 2,000 UK adults, online printing specialists instantprint, looked to uncover the most common love languages, and how these translate into our professional lives.

The theory of ‘Love Languages’ has been sweeping social media by storm, with the topic boasting nearly 250 million views on Tik Tok alone. Based on a concept by Gary Chapman, love languages are commonly used to describe how we prefer to show and receive love in our personal relationships, but how do our love languages play out in our professional relationships at work?

Of those surveyed, over half (53%) could identify their love language, with a third of them (33%) stating that quality time was their top way of showing and receiving love. Physical touch was the second most popular love language (28%) followed by words of affirmation (18%).

Acts of service and receiving gifts were the rarest forms of love language, securing 15% and 6% of the vote respectively.

Men were found to be considerably more inclined towards physical touch than women (18% vs just 12%), whereas women were more likely to choose quality time (19%) than men (16%).

To test whether our love languages align with how we want to be appreciated at work, instantprint assigned common ways of showing appreciation to a love language and then asked UK office workers what makes them feel the most appreciated at work.