Nice guys come last in wages

Daily Mail August 18, 2011

A study of the link between personality and wages found that "agreeable workers" earn significantly less than their hard-nosed colleagues.

And the gap between nasty and nice men is getting wider.

The US study examined levels of "agreeableness" attributed to different people and compared it with their pay.

Agreeableness was defined as a tendency towards warmth, kindness and co-operation with others.

Disagreeable women make 5 per cent more than women who are more willing to seek common ground.

The study used data compiled over 20 years from several surveys analysing about 10,000 workers.

"Nice guys are getting the shaft," study author Prof Beth Livingston, of Cornell University, told The Wall Street Journal.

"The problem is, many managers often don't realise they reward disagreeableness."