9 Signs A Female Coworker Likes You But Is Hiding It

On average, people spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at work—communicating, performing their duties, and finding common solutions.

Sometimes we talk strictly about responsibilities at work—and other times, we discuss private matters outside of work, such as hobbies, goals, interests, relationships, politics, and all kinds of random things. By talking, we get closer to our coworkers and become more comfortable around them.

It’s perfectly normal for coworkers to discuss work-related and unrelated topics because most of us find joy in getting to know one another. We love sharing details of our lives and enjoy listening to others’ thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and experiences.

It’s how we grow bonds with people we associate with—and through talking, sharing, and listening, establish a healthy relationship with them.

Communication oftentimes makes our work a lot more enjoyable as it engrosses us and makes us lose our perception of time. As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. It goes by quicker compared to when you’re bored, tired, anxious, or annoyed. People need one another. It’s how we’ve survived for so long.

But before we actually create a friendly, working relationship with someone we like, we must first go through certain attraction phases with that person.

These phases normally unwind below the threshold of our consciousness because human beings don’t possess the power to detect an emotional bond when we’re still in the process of developing it.

We may feel attraction, curiosity, and a desire to be respected and appreciated, but other than that, we don’t sense or create a bond until much later in a new relationship when we drop our defenses and become comfortable in it.

Only when talking to a coworker becomes second nature to us is when we discern that we’ve made a friend or a companion who reflects our core personality traits and interests.

If you think about it for a minute, you’ll realize that this is also the reason why couples cheat in relationships. They first start talking to someone as “just a friend” until they inadvertently develop feelings for that person and start gravitating toward him or her.

Provided that they lack personal strength, maturity, and moral values, and possibly even feel victimized on top of that—they then perceive the new person as a more attractive individual and leave their long-term partner to be with someone they barely know.

The bond they’ve created with the new person feels powerful and difficult to resist, so they do what feels right rather than what looks right.

So if you’ve met a female coworker who piques your interest, you might be wondering how to know if she likes you. You might also be wondering if her peculiar behavior is proof that she’s into you or if she’s just shy or uncomfortable around you.

To differentiate between shyness and romantic attraction, carefully read through the 9 signs a female coworker likes you but is hiding it. When you’ve done that, proceed by analyzing your coworker’s attitude and comparing it to the points in this article.

If your coworker truly likes you but is too shy to admit it, you’ll likely notice that her body language is sheepish, yet receptive—and that she wants to spend as much time with you as she can. She’s happy to cancel plans with her friends and make time for you because she’s infatuated with you and prefers to hang out with you.

This article is for men (or women) who are wondering, “What are the signs that a female coworker likes you but is hiding it?”

The difference between shyness and attraction

A lot of men develop feelings for a girl at work and find it incredibly difficult to distinguish between shyness and attraction.

The time they spend idealizing the girl and waiting for the girl to make the first move oftentimes makes guys develop a crush on their coworker and increases their feelings to the point where they feel more attracted to the girl than the girl does to them.

This is something that patience or reluctance does to guys. It essentially creates a mystery cloud around the woman they like and gradually attracts them more and more. Eventually, the waiting becomes unbearable and makes them appear anxious and out of character.

So if you’re not sure whether the girl at work likes you, feels attracted to you, or is infatuated with you, pay close attention to the way this girl behaves around you and others.

If you discern that you’re the only guy at work around whom she appears elated, shy, or overly cautious, this girl most likely has a crush on you.

She’s incredibly self-conscious of her behavior because she values your opinion of her and wants to do everything in her power not to disappoint you and ruin her chances with you.

With that said, let’s now talk about the signs a female coworker likes you but is hiding it.

1)She keeps looking at you

Eye contact (especially frequent and prolonged) is often a sign of attraction. It reveals a person’s point of interest and exhibits how a person feels toward herself as well as others.

You can tell a lot about a person’s thoughts and feelings just by looking into her eyes. For starters, you can tell if a person is shy, comfortable speaking with you, and if she respects you and likes the way you are.

Here’s how.

If a person knows you and feels comfortable with you, she’ll most likely smile and/or greet you when you catch her looking. She might even send positive vibes your way by waving and telling you something positive for you to think about.

A girl who likes you will essentially try to leave a positive long-lasting impression on you and attempt to make you look at her more often. She’ll do this by asking you simple questions, asking you for help, and complimenting you a lot.

On the contrary, if a girl isn’t that open and is slightly shy and self-conscious, then she likely won’t greet you or hold long eye contact with you. She’ll probably divert her attention away from you, onto something or someone else the moment you catch her staring just to avoid feeling uncomfortable.

Either way, frequent/long eye contact from a coworker is usually a good sign. It’s a sign that a female coworker likes you but is hiding it because she’s afraid of making the first move.

The reason why eyes are such an important sign of attraction is that they are a part of our 21 facial expressions. Just like the mouth, eyes also portray attraction as well as our hidden desires.

They speak for themselves as they tend to reveal what we want and how we feel.

So to learn what your female coworker feels about you, observe the way she looks at you. If she continues to look at you when you’re working and you notice that she averts her gaze the moment you catch her gazing at you, she’s probably not just shy.

She most likely enjoys looking at you because she secretly finds you attractive and wants to get to know you on a more personal level.

2)She touches you a lot

A good sign that a female coworker likes you is if she validates your remarks by touching your head arms hands, legs, or back.

Generally speaking, physical touch between workers implies that she approves of your comments and behavior—and that she feels comfortable enough to non-verbally express that she finds you interesting, attractive, or funny.

Maybe even all of the above if she keeps touching you frequently and telling you that you’re different from other guys.

So pay close attention to your coworker’s physical touch and physical distance from you—and remember that if she isn’t interested in you that she’ll probably stay far away from you.

She won’t stay far only when she’s not working with you, but also when you’re talking about work-related matters and need her help. She’ll have this stranger danger feeling about you and won’t let you close to her out of self-protection and a lack of romantic interest.

Here are 5 physical signs a female coworker likes you but is hiding it.

3)She’s trying to impress you

One of the most obvious signs a female coworker likes you but is hiding it is if she’s trying her best to impress you.

She could do that by:

• speaking in an enthusiastic manner
• telling you about her hobbies, interests, ambitions, responsibilities, or endeavors
• complimenting you and trying to make you laugh
• bragging or proving how good she is at her job, cooking, or dancing
• and saying anything that requires an approving response from you (validation)

If a girl at work looks into your eyes and waits for feedback whenever she’s trying to impress you, you have a sign that your coworker likes you.

You have a sign that your thoughts about her matter to her and that she placed high importance on you. The more she cares about you, the more upbeat she’ll sound and the more she’ll try to get you to notice her good qualities and features.

4)She pays a lot of attention to you

Have you ever been in a group conversation and noticed that two people talk to each other a lot and seem not to pay attention to the rest of the people in the group?

If you have, that’s because those two people had a great connection and put a higher importance on each other than the rest of the people in the group.

They perceived each other as people with common interests, positioned their feet toward each other, entered their own conversational bubble, and talked about topics that interested them the most.

This occurred because human beings look, talk, and face the people they like and enjoy talking to the most.

They may not even realize that they pay a specific person (or multiple people) more attention than others because it happens without their awareness. They naturally drift toward the people that they secretly respect, like, or have a crush on.

Talking to people they like makes them feel good about themselves as it reassures them that their conversationalists notice them, understand them, and/or sympathize with them.

A simple way to test whether the girl at work likes you is to pay attention to her behavior when she’s in a group of people. Wait for someone to tell a joke and observe who she looks at when everyone is laughing.

If you’re the first or the second person she instinctually looks at, this girl wants to impress you by letting you know that she’s fun, carefree, and easy to get along with.

If you take this into consideration and you notice that your coworker pays attention mainly to you when there are other people around, you have one of the best signs that a female coworker likes you but is hiding it.

It’s such a great sign because a woman may not feel comfortable verbalizing to you how she feels about you. She might be more comfortable showing you that. Many people find it easier to show that they like someone because that way, they don’t get rejected and hurt.

5)She tries to stay around you as much as possible

If you’re working with a female coworker and you’re wondering whether she likes you, a great way to confirm your suspicions is to see if she likes spending time with you.

Talk to her about fun mind-engaging topics and figure out if she seems interested in them.

If she appears elated around you and continues to stretch out conversations, this woman clearly enjoys spending time with you. She likes you and can’t get enough of you. That’s why she’s constantly starting new topics and trying to keep you engaged.

Another way to tell that she likes you is if you notice that she keeps looking for reasons to stop by your desk all the time. This would indicate that she has a hidden agenda.

An agenda that goes beyond work and impersonal feelings.

Please keep in mind that a girl who likes you could try to get your attention by asking for help or by offering to help you out of her own free will. She could do this to spend more time with you and deliberately make you get to know her better.

6)She invites you out

One of the best signs a coworker likes you but is hiding it is your coworker invites you out. This kind of behavior shows that she trusts you and that she wants to see how you perform outside of work when it’s just the two of you.

A good place for her to take you to is a museum, the movies, dinner, or anywhere with fewer coworkers and more random people around.

Of course, she might also hang out with you in a group, but if/when she gets past the initial stage of attraction and genuinely starts to like you, she’s going to want to spend more 1-on-1 quality time with you.

She’s going to become less patient and more honest about her wants, needs, and romantic expectations.

If you notice that your female coworker is taking the initiative and inviting you out, you have one of the best signs that your coworker likes you. It’s such a great sign because it proves that your coworker is trying to take your working relationship to the next level.

The next level would be going out on dates, holding hands, kissing, or being intimate.

7)Constant messaging and texting

Constant communication at work (as well as at home) is a very very good sign of friendship and mutual understanding. Not only that, but it can also be a sign that your female coworker likes you but is hiding it.

And that’s because your coworker might not even know that she likes you yet. As we’ve said before, an emotional bond is hard to discover when it’s still in the process of being developed.

That means your coworker could be feeling drawn to you without rationally discerning that she likes you.

She might think that you’re a great, fun, and charming person, but that she’s got other people she currently finds more attractive and has a stronger bond with.

If that’s the case, continue to communicate with her. Eventually, you’ll get to know each other and might even start flirting and hanging out.

8)She calls you nicknames

If a girl at work calls you (cute) nicknames, you have yet another sign that your female coworker likes you.

When a woman calls you by your nickname (or comes up with a nickname herself), it usually means two things:

1. That she respects you and finds you worthy of a nickname.
2. That she’s comfortable with you and wants to get closer to you.

It’s usually guys who compliment girls and shower them with nicknames and presents, but sometimes, girls do that too. The only difference between men and women is that women are more emotional, expressive, and honest about their feelings.

My advice is to pay attention to her tone when she calls you nicknames. The tone should depict what her level of interest is.

9)She asks her colleagues about you

The last sign that a female coworker likes you but is hiding it is when the coworker goes the extra mile to talk to her colleagues about you.

By doing so, she tries to dig up all sorts of information on you. This includes your past, personality, relationship status, likes and dislikes, and even the things you don’t excel at.

If you see a woman performing a background check on you, you can be certain she’s doing that for a good reason. She wants to learn more about you so that she doesn’t get hurt and disappointed weeks or months down the line.

Consider her talking to your friends and colleagues about you a sign of curiosity and/or self-protection.

Did you notice any signs that a female coworker likes you but is hiding it? If you did and you’d like to share your story, comment below. We’ll get back to you shortly.

And if you’d like to talk to us 1-on-1, check out our coaching options here.

Zan

My name is Zan and I’m the founder of Magnet of Success. I enjoy writing realistic relationship and breakup articles and helping readers heal and grow. With more than 5 years of experience in the self-improvement, relationship, and breakup sphere, my goal is to provide advice that fosters positivity and success and avoids preventable mistakes and pain. Buy me a coffee, learn more about me, or get in touch today.