Is your boss an introvert? Then working from home may be here to stay
The majority of small businesses in the UK is run by introverts, and remote working as a result of the pandemic could be here to stay for many of their employees, according to a new study.
From the roughly 1,000 business owners that were approached by Hitachi Capital Business Finance, just over two thirds, or 67 per cent, identified themselves as introverts.
This proportion rose most amongst scientific and technical companies with 50 or less employees, at 78 per cent, followed by transportation at 73 per cent and IT (65 per cent).
Extrovert bosses are more likely to be found in media and marketing, with just over half of business in that segment calling themselves an extrovert, followed by retail at 47 per cent.
Lockdown impact
Asking about the effect lockdown has had on their working practices, introvert bosses were twice as likely to say their business were “just as efficient” since lockdown started, 17 per cent vs 9 per cent, and 50 per cent more likely to say they had ‘no plans’ to change back to their old way of working post lockdown, 15 per cent vs 10 per cent for extrovert bosses.
Less ‘small talk’ in the office was cited as the biggest benefit to introvert bosses during lockdown, while introvert business leaders were also more likely to say productivity had increased as staff were able to crack on with projects independently.
Meanwhile, extrovert bosses were more likely to say they were able to complete more jobs each week, and had become more streamlined, at 17 per cent vs 11 per cent of introvert-run businesses.
Remote working
With news of lockdown restrictions gradually being eased, as the government rolled out its roadmap out of lockdown last month, small businesses have to decide what style of working fits their model best.
Extrovert bosses were twice as likely to say they had struggled to get hold of their staff since they had been working remotely, at 14 per cent vs 7 per cent, and more likely to feel many of their staff had struggled during the pandemic, according to the survey.
Whereas, introvert bosses were more likely to be concerned about collaboration within their teams, and the effect this was having on innovation.