Being Nice at Work Doesn't Pay...
25 December 2011
Read by 1690 persons
"Too good, too stupid"... This famous popular saying seems to resonate in the workplace. Indeed, according to an American study, the most unpleasant employees earn more money than their kind colleagues. This phenomenon is especially true for men, where aggressiveness and lack of courtesy are seen as signs of virility...
At the Academy of Management's annual congress, Beth Livingston, Thimothy Judge, and Charlice Hurst's team revealed the results of their study correlating employee behavior with their pay. The results are startling: unpleasant men earn an average of 18.31% ($9,772) more than their cordial colleagues. For women, the phenomenon is less significant, with the salary difference between fierce and kind women being only 5.47% ($1,828). More generally, unsurprisingly, women earn less than their male counterparts.
But how do you define kindness? Several employees participating in various studies were asked to describe themselves according to various criteria: being pleasant, helpful, friendly, warm, or sensitive. Those who fit one or more of these criteria earned significantly less than others. In fact, being "kind" seems to have a particularly negative effect on men.
Researchers compiled 4 studies spanning 20 years (1) to reach these results!
According to the authors, this is explained by ongoing stereotypes about masculinity. Indeed, "unpleasant men benefit doubly from their personality: it allows them to better translate their human capital into financial advantages insofar as their behavior conforms to what is expected of a man. Conversely, rather kind and pleasant men are disadvantaged by their behavior, which conflicts with social norms about masculinity."
The authors were very surprised by the persistence of these old stereotypes on the new generation... Furthermore, "from the point of view of gender equality, a kind man will always earn more than a woman, whether kind or mean. Moreover, even if kind women have little chance of earning a lot, mean women won't do any better"...
Yamina Saïd
(1) A study on young workers conducted by the University of Chicago between 1997 and 2008, another on employees aged 25 to 74 conducted in the 1990s by Harvard Medical School, another following graduates in 1957 in Wisconsin and followed in the 1990s (conducted by the University of Wisconsin), and finally a recent survey of 460 business students last year.
Sources:
- "Nice finish last", Press release from the Academy of Management, August 2011.
- Study: "Do Nice Guys -- and Gals -- Really Finish Last? The Joint Effects of Sex and Agreeableness on Income", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, August 15, 2011
Theladiesfirst.net
Posted on December 25, 2011.
At the Academy of Management's annual congress, Beth Livingston, Thimothy Judge, and Charlice Hurst's team revealed the results of their study correlating employee behavior with their pay. The results are startling: unpleasant men earn an average of 18.31% ($9,772) more than their cordial colleagues. For women, the phenomenon is less significant, with the salary difference between fierce and kind women being only 5.47% ($1,828). More generally, unsurprisingly, women earn less than their male counterparts.
But how do you define kindness? Several employees participating in various studies were asked to describe themselves according to various criteria: being pleasant, helpful, friendly, warm, or sensitive. Those who fit one or more of these criteria earned significantly less than others. In fact, being "kind" seems to have a particularly negative effect on men.
Researchers compiled 4 studies spanning 20 years (1) to reach these results!
According to the authors, this is explained by ongoing stereotypes about masculinity. Indeed, "unpleasant men benefit doubly from their personality: it allows them to better translate their human capital into financial advantages insofar as their behavior conforms to what is expected of a man. Conversely, rather kind and pleasant men are disadvantaged by their behavior, which conflicts with social norms about masculinity."
The authors were very surprised by the persistence of these old stereotypes on the new generation... Furthermore, "from the point of view of gender equality, a kind man will always earn more than a woman, whether kind or mean. Moreover, even if kind women have little chance of earning a lot, mean women won't do any better"...
Yamina Saïd
(1) A study on young workers conducted by the University of Chicago between 1997 and 2008, another on employees aged 25 to 74 conducted in the 1990s by Harvard Medical School, another following graduates in 1957 in Wisconsin and followed in the 1990s (conducted by the University of Wisconsin), and finally a recent survey of 460 business students last year.
Sources:
- "Nice finish last", Press release from the Academy of Management, August 2011.
- Study: "Do Nice Guys -- and Gals -- Really Finish Last? The Joint Effects of Sex and Agreeableness on Income", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, August 15, 2011
Theladiesfirst.net
Posted on December 25, 2011.
