If you want to earn more than your fellow co-workers you might have to stop with the “nice guy” or “nice girl” persona and learn to be a little mean. According to a recent study “agreeable” workers earn less than people who are not agreeable, with mean male employees widening the gap from their nice male counterparts.
According to the study “Men with below average agreeableness” on average earned 18% more per year than their agreeable colleagues, while less agreeable women earned approximately 5% more than their female counterparts.
The research was gathered by taking results from three different studies conducted over the last 20 years and according to researchers, “Nice guys are getting the shaft,” while they added, “The problem is, many managers often don’t realize they reward disagreeableness.”
The reason men who are not agreeable receive such higher wages according to researchers is the simple fact that they are meant to have “masculine behavior” so that type of attitude is rewarded by their bosses.
The Wall Street Journal also notes that agreeable people are often less aggressive when it comes to asking for raises during negotiations and when accepting a job offer.
The study doesn’t however investigate how long non-agreeable people keep their jobs and while they may earn more in the same positions as their counterparts, they may not be as likely to receive promotions because of their workplace attitude.
Have you had the “joy” of working with a mean employee who always seemed to get all of the breaks.
