Personality traits, remote work and productivity

This article investigates the link between personality traits and workers’ productivity when working from home (WFH). We exploit a survey conducted in Latvia in 2021, providing measures of the “Big Five” personality traits for more than 1,700 recent teleworkers. Other things being equal, Conscientiousness is positively associated with reporting higher productivity for WFH. Moreover, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience are positively linked with willingness to WFH post-pandemic. These results suggest that pro-teleworking employers will observe positive selection into their workforce based on personality traits. On the other hand, the link between Extraversion and preference for WFH is negative. Our findings suggest that a one-size-fits-all policy is unlikely to maximize either firms’ productivity or workers’ satisfaction