Is there truth to the “morning person” moniker? How do you know if you are a “morning person”, a “night owl,” or somewhere in between? Chances are that by this stage in your life, you probably have a good sense of this, and you probably recognize these same traits in your staff members. In the workplace, the morning person is generally considered to be a “go-getter,” showing up for work bright-eyed and bushy tailed, full of energy and ideas. Then you’ve got your “evening people,” who stroll in around mid-day and still seem like they’re not quite ready for work. It may sound stereotypical, but if you have salon employees, you may relate to this!
Most employers would rather load up their ranks with morning types, but it looks like there may be advantages to employing a mixture. While morning people are typically good fits for corporate culture, it would appear that many of the traits found in evening people make them good fits for the spa and salon industries, or in businesses where creativity is paramount. A recent study by biology professor Chrisoph Randler of the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany attempts to identify whether physiology actually plays a role in job performance. Professor Randler surveyed over 300 university students and came up with some interesting findings which he shares in the July/August edition of Harvard Business Review. Randler notes that are other studies that have also explored this issue, and have identified certain behaviors that are found to be consistent with a “Chronotype.”
While there are plenty of variations, the following characteristics have been identified with each chronotype:
- Morning people – proactive, optimistic, conscientious, stable, ‘glass half-full’ attitudes
- Evening people – creative, intelligent, extroverted, and humorous, but also somewhat depressed and/or neurotic
Can you identify you or your staff members as a particular chronotype? Do you think it’s important to have a mixture of chronotypes in a business that focuses on client care? Now we have a new challenge in our interview process! Let me know your thoughts.