Unattractive employees more likely to be bullied at work

People who are considered unattractive are more likely to be belittled and bullied in their workplace, a new US study has claimed.
The study by Timothy Judge, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and Brent Scott from Michigan State University is the first to link attractiveness to cruelty in the workplace.
The researchers surveyed 114 workers at a health care facility in the southeastern United States. The workers were asked how often their co-workers engaged in cruel behaviour toward them (which included saying hurtful things, acting rudely and making fun of them).
People who didn't know the study participants judged their attractiveness from digital photos.

The unattractive workers were treated much more harshly than attractive employees even when other key factors were taken into account, including age, gender and how long they had worked at the health care facility.
"We find that unattractive individuals are more likely the subject of rude, uncivil and even cruel treatment by their coworkers. And, not only do we, as a society, perceive attractive and unattractive coworkers differently, we act on those perceptions in ways that are hurtful," Judge said in a statement.

"Given that physical attractiveness is not a bona fide occupational qualification for most jobs, our new findings are problematic for society," Judge said.

"Worse, research reliably shows that we're more influenced by attractiveness than we are willing to admit," he said.
The study was published in the journal Human Performance.