Introverts Are the Most Ruthless Employee Evaluators

Keeping introverts on your side could pay real dividends at the office. That’s because introverts are more likely to give negative employee evaluations if they don’t like your personality, according to a studyfrom researchers at Oregon State University, the University of Florida and University of Notre Dame.

Extroverts received the harshest evaluations from introverts, who consistently undervalued their outspoken coworkers’ abilities and contributions. Likewise, introverts systematically rated the performance of fellow introverts higher than the average employee. Employee evaluations that extroverts gave, however, tended not to be affected by the personality of who they were evaluating.

“That gives employees a tremendous amount of power to influence their peers’ career opportunities. It’s something individuals and employers should be aware of.”

The results are particularly important as corporate culture moves in the direction of employee-centered compensation programs. At Google, for example, employees can nominated each other for a series of rewards, including bonuses, promotions, and salary raises.

Researchers say the results of their study demonstrate the power of personality. 

“We found that introverted employees are especially sensitive to their co-workers’ interpersonal traits, in particular extraversion and disagreeableness. They make judgments and evaluate performance of others with those traits in mind.”

In his Big Think interview, University of Texas, Austin, psychology professor Sam Gosling examines the ways we express our personality through our workplace behavior, and in how we arrange and decorate our personal space:

Read more at Science Daily

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