How Your Personality Determines If You Can Work Remotely

Matching personality traits to hybrid work arrangements can optimize employee performance, resulting in a win-win for all involved.

Article in Psychology Today, How Your Personality Determines If You Can Work Remotely

Summary:

1. Many employees excel in hybrid or fully remote work settings, while others struggle to work effectively outside the office, even with the same home office arrangements.
2. Personality differences are an important driver of performance differences in remote work settings, frustrating managers who end up developing mistrust of employee productivity.
3. Matching hybrid work arrangements to relevant personality traits can optimize employee performance, resulting in a win-win for everyone involved.

Impressions:

The first thoughts through my mind were, "Great.  Another psyco-bable, piece from the lofty, high faluting, intelligentia.

I was mostly correct. The article is one of many attempting to explain how the corporate world continues on the status quo, central command, and control model:

1. Separate and Isolate
2. Frighten
3. Provide refuge

This article clearly falls in the "Separate and Isolate" category.  Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is through music:

"...secret destroyers hold you out to the flames..."

Enjoy this GPT-Assisted piece:

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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote work, with many companies embracing hybrid work arrangements. However, not all employees can work effectively outside the office, even if they have the same home office arrangements and are deemed equally talented by their managers. Personality differences play a vital role in determining how employees perform in hybrid work arrangements.

"...according to a study conducted at Stanford University, employees who worked remotely were 5 percent more productive than those who worked in an office setting in the summer of 2020. By the spring of 2022, the productivity gap between remote and in-office workers had increased to 9 percent..."

According to a Harvard Business Review report, it's essential to use the right measurements in assessing personality. The Big Five personality test offers a much better option. The five dimensions of personality tested are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability. The test has shown a high degree of predictive validity, test-retest reliability, convergence with self-ratings, and ratings by others.

Conscientiousness, characterized by qualities such as being organized, reliable, self-disciplined, taking ownership of tasks, and showing initiative in problem-solving, strongly correlates with higher performance during the time when employees work remotely. 

Those high on extraversion perform less well when working from home compared to working in the office. 

Emotional stability also predicted higher performance outside the office with a statistical significance, though to a lesser extent than conscientiousness or extraversion. Those higher in openness to experience performed better during the time they worked remotely, although the magnitude of the difference was lower than for conscientiousness or extraversion.

"...Nonetheless, despite the extensive data, managers still feel suspicious of any time their hybrid employees work remotely..."

There are no statistically significant differences in performance between in-office and remote settings for agreeableness. This personality trait refers to a person's tendency to be cooperative and get along with others, with a focus on compromise and reluctance to engage in competition and conflict.

Employees are substantially more efficient working remotely, with remote workers being 5% more productive than those who worked in an office setting in the summer of 2020, according to a study conducted at Stanford University. 

Despite the extensive data, managers still feel suspicious of any time their hybrid employees work remotely. Managers can assess the personality traits of their team members and adapt hybrid work arrangements to fit their needs, optimizing team member performance in a win-win for all.

 

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Tweet: Discover how your personality traits impact your ability to work remotely. Matching hybrid work arrangements to relevant personality traits can optimize employee performance. #remotework #personalitytraits #employeeproductivity #hybridwork #managers #workfromhome

Intro paragraph: With the ongoing shift to remote work due to the pandemic, managers have been grappling with how to ensure that their employees can work effectively outside the office. While some employees thrive in hybrid or fully remote work settings, others struggle to perform at the same level as they would in an office environment. This variance in performance can often be attributed to personality differences. Matching hybrid work arrangements to relevant personality traits can optimize employee performance, resulting in a win-win for all involved. In this post, we will explore the impact of personality traits on remote work and how managers can adapt hybrid work arrangements to suit their employees' needs.

Search Question: What are the personality traits that impact employee performance in hybrid and remote work settings?

Keywords: Personality traits, Hybrid work, Employee performance, Remote work, Managers, Productivity

Song: "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" 

Image Prompt: A person working in a home office setup with a laptop, headphones, and a coffee mug.