The lockdown measures introduced during the Covid pandemic forced many to work from home for prolonged periods.  Research from Tilburg University suggests this was particularly hard on extroverted workers.

The study found that people who scored highly on either conscientiousness or extroversion suffered from not only lower happiness levels but also lower productivity during the pandemic.  The authors hope that their findings will help managers as they juggle whether to offer hybrid working in the aftermath of Covid.

Personality differences

The researchers highlight the unprecedented shift to remote working during the pandemic, and builds upon previous research showing both the benefits and challenges of this new way of working.  For instance, while it provides obvious advantages in terms of autonomy and flexibility, it also delivers an evident reduction in social contact with colleagues.

The researchers examined the impact individual characteristics play in terms of success in working from home.  During the first wave of the pandemic, they conducted a four-month longitudinal survey to understand the changes in various employee outcomes, including job satisfaction, performance, and employee engagement, as people transitioned towards remote work.

The results revealed that people who were conscientious and/or extroverted were both less happy and less productive, with this phenomenon worsening over time.  By the same measure, those employees who scored lower on each of these traits seemed to improve in terms of productivity and happiness during the same period.

The researchers are working to understand whether these side effects of remote working endured as the pandemic wore on, and indeed whether the experiences during the early months of the pandemic flavored people’s attitudes towards remote working versus office work.