The JobSync Blog
Niceness does not appear to pay
September 15, 2011
Not only do nice guys finish last, they also finish poor.
According to research to be published in the Journal of Personality and Psychology, “Niceness – in the form of the trait of agreeableness – does not appear to pay." After reviewing 20 years of data from several surveys that encompassed 10,000 workers in different industries and levels of pay, researchers found that men who consider themselves below average in agreeableness earned 18% more annually than their nicer male counterparts. For women, being more disagreeable only resulted in 5% higher earnings.
The authors of the study concluded that more disagreeable men tend to negotiate for higher starting salaries and more frequently for raises (It is not clear why less agreeable women saw a smaller bump in their earnings than men). Worse yet for agreeable men, the researchers conducted another study that showed they are also less likely to be recommended for a management position than those male candidates who were disagreeable or perceived to be arrogant.
So, is there any point to being agreeable in the workplace? According to one of the authors of the study, such individuals may "…make less money, but they do tend to have better quality relationships and higher satisfaction, and that's a major takeaway from this: These nice guys are getting paid less, but that doesn't mean they're less happy."
Critics of the research contend that people’s dispositions change throughout their careers, so it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about agreeable employees receiving lower pay. But if being nice and non-confrontational is who you are at your core, run with it. Just be prepared to accept the fact that being agreeable rarely makes more cents.
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