Meeting coworkers for after-hours drinks is popular but also a minefield of personal and professional pitfalls, according to a new survey.

Reuters reported June 24 that about one in five U.S. workers go out drinking for Happy Hour, mostly to bond with colleagues but also to catch up on office gossip or out of a sense of obligation.

However, after-work drinking can lead to a number of problems: 16 percent of those surveyed said they had badmouthed a colleague, the CareerBuilder.com survey found, while 10 percent admitted sharing secrets about a colleague, 8 percent had kissed a coworker, and 8 percent said they drank too much and acted unprofessionally.

The survey also found that 85 percent of workers said going out drinking with coworkers did not help their career, although 21 percent said Happy Hour socializing helped them network with colleagues.

Men and women were equally likely to drink with coworkers, with younger workers (ages 24 to 34) the most likely to participate in Happy Hour get-togethers.