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Those who rated themselves as extremely attractive earn on average $19,945 more.
The way a person looks can affect how they are perceived by others, and even how much they can earn, as a recent study by Standout CV revealed that attractive employees can earn approximately $20,000 more.
*While the survey was conducted in the US, HRO believes the results remain relevant to our readership in Asia.
Having surveyed 1,050 Americans, 81.3% of the respondents believed that ‘pretty privilege’ exists at work. They believed that conventionally attractive people are more likely to be promoted, hired, or receive raises at work.
Alarmingly, 66.9% of people reported witnessing someone being treated unfairly or spoken badly about due to their appearance at work.
When asked to rate their own attractiveness, the average respondent scored themselves as 7.7 out of 10, with 10 representing the most attractive.
Men were more likely than women to think of themselves as extremely attractive, with 37.5% of men rating themselves a 9 or perfect 10, compared to 27.4% of women.
Beauty may be linked to self-confidence, as the study found that successful people were more than likely to rate themselves as conventionally attractive. Nearly all CEOs rated themselves at 7 or above (99.8%), whereas only 65.52% entry-level employees were likely to rate themselves as attractive.
In fact, 71% of CEOs rated themselves as 9 or 10 out of 10, which is double the overall average of 33%.
As perceived attractiveness is often correlated with seniority, it’s not surprising that beautiful people also earn more. Those who rated themselves as extremely attractive earn on average $19,945 more than those who rate themselves as unattractive ($63,954 compared to $44,009).
Feeling pressured to comply with conventional beauty standards at work
Almost half (46%) of people who rated themselves as unattractive in the study said their looks had impacted their career negatively. This number is over five times greater than the study average of 7.6%.
And appearance matters beyond just natural looks. According to the study, there is a specific set of beauty standards that men and women are held up against in Western culture to be deemed ‘conventionally attractive’.
As such, 64.2% of respondents felt pressured to change their natural features to fit a ‘conventional’ beauty standard. Nearly all respondents (83.4%) believed that people who invest more in their work appearance are perceived as more competent or professional.
Furthermore, 62.8% of people have been told to dress or present themselves in a certain way to fit their industry’s beauty standards, while 78.86% said they often or sometimes feel the need to spend money on appearance-related products (clothes, makeup, grooming) to keep up with professional expectations in their industry.
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