In today's increasingly diverse workplace, organizations are recognizing that fostering an inclusive environment requires more than just good intentions. It demands a deep understanding of the varied personalities, perspectives, and behavioral tendencies that employees bring to the table. The HEXACO model of personality structure is a six-dimensional model of human personality that was created by Michael C. Ashton and Kibeom Lee, offering a comprehensive framework that goes beyond traditional personality assessments to help organizations build truly inclusive cultures.

This evidence-based personality model has emerged as a powerful tool for understanding individual differences in ways that directly support diversity and inclusion initiatives. By examining six core dimensions of personality—including the unique Honesty-Humility factor—the HEXACO model provides insights that can transform how organizations approach hiring, team building, leadership development, and workplace culture. The HEXACO Test helps identify candidates with diverse skills and backgrounds, fostering a more inclusive work environment.

What Is the HEXACO Model of Personality?

The six factors, or dimensions, include honesty-humility (H), emotionality (E), extraversion (X), agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C), and openness to experience (O). This model represents a significant evolution in personality psychology, building upon earlier frameworks while addressing their limitations.

The Development and Scientific Foundation

The HEXACO model was developed from several previous independent lexical studies. Language-based taxonomies for personality traits have been widely used as a method for developing personality models. This method, based on the logic of the lexical hypothesis, uses adjectives found in language that describe behaviours and tendencies among individuals. Factor analysis is used on the adjectives to identify a minimal set of independent groups of personality traits.

When similar lexical studies were conducted in multiple languages rather than only English, a sixth factor emerged, which was called the honesty-humility factor. The other languages included: Dutch, French, Korean, Polish, Croatian, Filipino, Greek, German, Italian, Hungarian, and Turkish. This cross-cultural validation demonstrates the universal applicability of the model, making it particularly valuable for diverse, global workplaces.

How HEXACO Differs from the Big Five

While many organizations are familiar with the Big Five personality model, the HEXACO framework offers distinct advantages for diversity and inclusion efforts. The Big Five model remains a cornerstone in personality psychology and HR due to its extensive research base, the HEXACO model adds an additional layer by including the Honesty-Humility dimension. This offers a more nuanced understanding of individuals and provides actionable insights for HR professionals.

The Hexaco Model is more inclusive than other personality models, as it encompasses moral and ethical aspects of personality, especially using the Honesty-Humility factor. This dimension helps analyze actions associated with fairness, integrity, and modesty, essential in private and business life. This ethical dimension is particularly relevant for creating workplace cultures where all employees are treated fairly and with respect.

Understanding the Six HEXACO Dimensions

Each dimension of the HEXACO model provides unique insights into how individuals interact with others, approach their work, and contribute to organizational culture. Understanding these dimensions is essential for leveraging personality diversity effectively.

Honesty-Humility: The Ethical Foundation

The Honesty-Humility dimension is perhaps the most distinctive feature of the HEXACO model. This dimension reflects a person's tendency to be sincere, fair, and avoid manipulation for personal gain. This trait is crucial in predicting moral and ethical behavior, influencing areas like leadership, criminality, and workplace integrity.

Individuals who score high on Honesty-Humility tend to be genuine in their interactions, avoid taking advantage of others, and demonstrate modesty about their achievements. Conversely, low levels of the honesty-humility factor are associated with greater levels of materialism, unethical business practices and deviant sexual behavior. The honesty-humility factor has been found to predict endorsement of unethical business practices and even the degree to which a person will take health and safety risks.

For diversity and inclusion initiatives, this dimension is particularly valuable because it helps identify individuals who are more likely to treat colleagues fairly regardless of their background, resist discriminatory behaviors, and contribute to an ethical workplace culture. The HEXACO model has become increasingly popular in industrial and organizational psychology, due in part to the ability of Honesty–Humility to incrementally predict a range of workplace deviance behaviors. In the current study, we adopt the HEXACO framework, in part, because of the potential for Honesty-Humility to provide increased predictive capacity of attitudes towards workplace diversity and prejudice towards women and minority groups at work.

Emotionality: Understanding Emotional Sensitivity

The Emotionality dimension in HEXACO differs from Neuroticism in the Big Five model by focusing more on emotional sensitivity, empathy, and attachment needs rather than simply emotional instability. This dimension encompasses fearfulness, anxiety, dependence on others, and sentimentality.

Individuals high in Emotionality tend to be more empathetic and sensitive to the emotions of others, which can be a tremendous asset in creating supportive, inclusive work environments. They may be more attuned to when colleagues are struggling or feeling excluded, and more motivated to offer support. However, they may also experience higher levels of stress in challenging situations.

Understanding this dimension helps organizations create accommodations and support systems that recognize different emotional needs and sensitivities among employees, contributing to a more inclusive environment where various emotional styles are valued.

Extraversion: Social Energy and Engagement

Extraversion in the HEXACO model captures an individual's tendency toward social engagement, assertiveness, and energy in social situations. This dimension includes facets such as social self-esteem, social boldness, sociability, and liveliness.

While extraverted individuals may naturally thrive in collaborative, team-oriented environments and networking situations, it's crucial for inclusive workplaces to recognize that introverted individuals bring equally valuable contributions. Workplace diversity can lead to increased productivity, creativity and problem-solving. Understanding introversion in relation to workplace performance and creativity and how to encourage inclusion of introverts would benefit employers and employees.

Organizations that understand the Extraversion dimension can design work environments and practices that accommodate both extraverted and introverted working styles, ensuring that quieter voices are heard and that diverse communication preferences are respected.

Agreeableness: Cooperation and Patience

The Agreeableness dimension in HEXACO focuses on an individual's tendency toward patience, tolerance, forgiveness, and gentleness in dealing with others. This differs somewhat from Agreeableness in the Big Five, as HEXACO separates out certain aspects into the Honesty-Humility dimension.

Highly agreeable individuals tend to be cooperative, willing to compromise, and patient with others' shortcomings. They're often skilled at maintaining harmony in diverse teams and can help bridge differences between colleagues from various backgrounds.

However, it's important to recognize that lower Agreeableness doesn't necessarily indicate a problematic employee. Some individuals with lower scores may be more willing to engage in constructive conflict, challenge the status quo, and advocate for necessary changes—all of which can be valuable in driving diversity and inclusion initiatives forward.

Conscientiousness: Organization and Dependability

Conscientiousness reflects the degree to which individuals are organized, diligent, perfectionistic, and prudent in their approach to work and life. This dimension includes facets such as organization, diligence, perfectionism, and prudence.

Highly conscientious individuals tend to be reliable, detail-oriented, and committed to following through on their responsibilities. They often excel in structured environments and can be counted on to complete tasks thoroughly and on time.

From a diversity perspective, understanding Conscientiousness helps organizations recognize that different individuals have different working styles and organizational approaches. Creating inclusive environments means accommodating various levels of structure and flexibility, recognizing that both highly organized and more spontaneous approaches can contribute value.

Openness to Experience: Curiosity and Innovation

Openness to Experience captures an individual's curiosity, creativity, appreciation for aesthetics, and willingness to consider new ideas and unconventional approaches. This dimension includes facets such as aesthetic appreciation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and unconventionality.

Individuals high in Openness tend to be intellectually curious, imaginative, and receptive to diverse perspectives and experiences. They're often more comfortable with ambiguity and change, and may be particularly valuable in driving innovation and adaptation in diverse workplaces.

This dimension is particularly relevant for diversity and inclusion because Honesty–Humility and Openness predicted less negative attitudes to workplace diversity. Employees who are open to experience are typically more receptive to working with colleagues from different backgrounds and more willing to consider alternative viewpoints and approaches.

The Connection Between HEXACO and Workplace Diversity Attitudes

Research has established clear connections between HEXACO personality dimensions and attitudes toward workplace diversity, providing evidence-based guidance for organizations seeking to build more inclusive cultures.

Research Findings on Personality and Diversity Attitudes

The HEXACO model of personality predicted negative attitudes to workplace diversity well. As expected, Honesty–Humility and Openness predicted less negative attitudes to workplace diversity. Extraversion also emerged as a good predictor. These findings suggest that certain personality traits are associated with more positive, inclusive attitudes toward colleagues from diverse backgrounds.

Understanding these relationships helps organizations in several ways. First, it provides insight into why some employees may be more naturally inclined toward inclusive behaviors while others may need more support and education. Second, it suggests that diversity training and inclusion initiatives may need to be tailored to address different personality types effectively.

Predicting Workplace Behaviors and Ethics

Beyond attitudes, the HEXACO model has proven valuable in predicting actual workplace behaviors related to ethics and interpersonal conduct. The Fairness facet explained almost as much variance in workplace deviance as all six HEXACO domains combined. These results suggest that using a few HEXACO facets to predict workplace deviance can be more efficient than using all six broad domains.

This predictive power is particularly relevant for diversity and inclusion because workplace deviance can include discriminatory behaviors, harassment, and other actions that undermine inclusive cultures. By understanding personality factors that predict ethical behavior, organizations can better identify and develop employees who will contribute positively to diversity initiatives.

Applying HEXACO to Recruitment and Hiring

One of the most impactful applications of the HEXACO model for diversity and inclusion is in the recruitment and hiring process. When used appropriately and ethically, personality assessments can help organizations build more diverse, effective teams.

Using HEXACO Assessments in Candidate Evaluation

The HEXACO Personality Test delves deeper by emphasizing the Honesty-Humility dimension, which allows employers to better evaluate a candidate's ethics, sincerity, and fairness. This in-depth understanding of an individual's character traits enables employers to identify the best fit for their team and fosters a more diverse and inclusive work environment.

Organizations can incorporate HEXACO-based assessments as one component of a comprehensive hiring process. These assessments can provide insights into how candidates might approach ethical dilemmas, interact with diverse colleagues, and contribute to team dynamics. However, it's crucial that personality assessments are used as one data point among many, never as the sole basis for hiring decisions.

Reducing Bias in Hiring Decisions

Incorporating personality assessment through the HEXACO model can help mitigate biases based on factors like gender, race, or age, fostering diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. When used properly, standardized personality assessments can provide objective data that complements traditional interview processes, which are often subject to unconscious bias.

The key is to focus on personality traits that are genuinely relevant to job performance and cultural fit, rather than using assessments to screen out candidates who don't fit a narrow mold. Organizations should ensure that their use of personality assessments doesn't inadvertently create new barriers to diversity by favoring certain personality profiles over others without clear job-related justification.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

To make the most of the HEXACO Personality Test in your hiring process, it's essential to adhere to legal and ethical standards, respecting candidates' privacy and rights. Organizations must ensure that their use of personality assessments complies with employment law and doesn't discriminate against protected groups.

Best practices include being transparent with candidates about how assessments will be used, ensuring that assessments are validated for the specific roles and contexts in which they're applied, and regularly reviewing assessment processes to ensure they're supporting rather than hindering diversity goals. Organizations should also provide candidates with feedback when possible and ensure that assessment results are kept confidential and used only for legitimate business purposes.

Building Diverse, Complementary Teams

Understanding the HEXACO personality dimensions of team members can help organizations intentionally build teams that leverage personality diversity for enhanced performance and innovation.

The Value of Personality Diversity in Teams

By assessing HEXACO traits, HR professionals can compose teams with complementary personalities, maximizing collaboration and reducing conflicts. Just as organizations benefit from diversity in terms of background, experience, and perspective, they also benefit from diversity in personality traits and working styles.

A team composed entirely of highly agreeable individuals might avoid necessary conflicts and fail to challenge problematic ideas. Conversely, a team with no highly agreeable members might struggle with interpersonal harmony. The most effective teams often include a mix of personality types that balance each other's strengths and weaknesses.

For example, combining team members who are high in Openness to Experience with those who are more conventional can create a balance between innovation and practical implementation. Pairing highly conscientious individuals with those who are more flexible can help teams maintain both structure and adaptability.

Strategies for Leveraging Personality Differences

Once organizations understand the personality composition of their teams, they can take concrete steps to leverage these differences productively:

  • Assign roles strategically: Match tasks and responsibilities to individuals' personality strengths. For instance, employees high in Conscientiousness might excel at detailed planning and quality control, while those high in Extraversion might be natural choices for client-facing roles or team facilitation.
  • Create balanced working groups: When forming project teams or committees, intentionally include individuals with different personality profiles to ensure diverse perspectives and approaches.
  • Facilitate mutual understanding: Help team members understand their own and each other's personality traits, fostering appreciation for different working styles and reducing interpersonal friction.
  • Adapt communication approaches: Recognize that different personality types may prefer different communication styles and adapt accordingly. Some individuals may prefer detailed written communication, while others thrive on spontaneous verbal exchanges.
  • Design inclusive processes: Create meeting structures, decision-making processes, and collaboration methods that accommodate different personality styles, ensuring that both extraverted and introverted voices are heard, for example.

Managing Potential Conflicts

HEXACO insights can help identify potential sources of conflict within teams, allowing HR to implement strategies that promote a positive work culture and improve team dynamics. Understanding personality differences can help managers anticipate where tensions might arise and proactively address them.

For instance, individuals who are low in Agreeableness may come across as confrontational to highly agreeable colleagues, even when they're simply being direct. Recognizing this dynamic allows managers to frame these differences as complementary rather than problematic, and to coach team members on effective communication across personality styles.

Developing Inclusive Leadership Through HEXACO Insights

Leadership plays a critical role in creating and sustaining inclusive workplace cultures. The HEXACO model offers valuable insights for identifying, developing, and supporting inclusive leaders.

Personality Traits Associated with Inclusive Leadership

HEXACO provides valuable insights into traits associated with effective leadership, such as honesty-humility, conscientiousness, and extraversion. HR professionals can leverage this information to identify individuals with leadership potential.

Research suggests that certain HEXACO dimensions are particularly relevant for inclusive leadership. High Honesty-Humility is associated with ethical leadership and fair treatment of all employees, regardless of background. Leaders high in this dimension are less likely to show favoritism or engage in discriminatory practices.

Openness to Experience is also crucial for inclusive leadership, as it predicts receptiveness to diverse perspectives and willingness to challenge traditional approaches that may perpetuate exclusion. Leaders high in Openness are typically more comfortable with diversity and more likely to actively seek out diverse viewpoints.

Emotionality, while sometimes viewed as a potential weakness in traditional leadership models, can be a strength for inclusive leadership. Leaders with higher Emotionality may be more empathetic and attuned to the experiences of employees from marginalized groups, making them better equipped to create supportive, inclusive environments.

Leadership Development Programs

Organizations can use HEXACO insights to design leadership development programs that cultivate inclusive leadership capabilities:

  • Self-awareness training: Help current and aspiring leaders understand their own personality profiles and how these might influence their leadership approach, including potential blind spots related to diversity and inclusion.
  • Targeted skill development: Design training that helps leaders develop competencies that may not come naturally based on their personality profile. For instance, leaders lower in Openness might benefit from specific training on seeking diverse perspectives and challenging their own assumptions.
  • Coaching and mentoring: Provide personalized coaching that helps leaders leverage their personality strengths while addressing areas where they may need additional support in leading diverse teams.
  • Feedback mechanisms: Implement 360-degree feedback processes that help leaders understand how their personality and leadership style is perceived by diverse team members, and identify opportunities for growth.
  • Succession planning: Use HEXACO insights as one factor in identifying and developing future leaders who have the personality characteristics associated with inclusive, ethical leadership.

Supporting Leaders with Different Personality Profiles

It's important to recognize that effective, inclusive leaders can have various personality profiles. Rather than seeking a single "ideal" leadership personality, organizations should support leaders in leveraging their unique strengths while developing capabilities in areas that may be more challenging for them.

For example, a leader who is lower in Extraversion might excel at thoughtful, one-on-one mentoring and creating space for quieter team members to contribute, even if they're less comfortable with large group facilitation. Organizations can support such leaders by providing them with tools and strategies that play to their strengths while also helping them develop comfort with more extraverted leadership activities when necessary.

Training and Development Programs Based on HEXACO

Incorporating HEXACO insights into training and development programs can make these initiatives more effective and personalized, ultimately supporting diversity and inclusion goals more successfully.

Personality-Aware Diversity Training

Traditional diversity training often takes a one-size-fits-all approach, but research suggests that different personality types may respond differently to various training methods and messages. By incorporating HEXACO insights, organizations can design more effective diversity and inclusion training:

  • Tailored messaging: Frame diversity and inclusion concepts in ways that resonate with different personality types. For instance, emphasizing the ethical imperative of inclusion may particularly resonate with those high in Honesty-Humility, while highlighting the innovation benefits of diversity may appeal more to those high in Openness.
  • Varied learning formats: Offer training in multiple formats to accommodate different personality preferences. Some individuals may prefer reflective, individual learning activities, while others thrive in interactive group discussions.
  • Personalized action planning: Help employees develop inclusion action plans that align with their personality strengths. An extraverted employee might commit to actively seeking out and amplifying quieter voices in meetings, while a highly conscientious employee might focus on systematically reviewing processes for potential bias.
  • Addressing resistance: Understand that resistance to diversity initiatives may sometimes stem from personality factors rather than malice. For instance, individuals lower in Openness may find change more challenging and may need additional support in adapting to new inclusive practices.

Professional Development and Career Pathing

Aligning employees' traits with job responsibilities and company culture results in higher job satisfaction and productivity. Organizations can use HEXACO insights to support employees' professional development in ways that honor their personality while also expanding their capabilities:

  • Personalized development plans: Create development plans that build on employees' personality strengths while also helping them develop skills that may not come as naturally.
  • Career counseling: Provide career guidance that helps employees understand how their personality traits might align with different roles and career paths, while being careful not to limit opportunities based on personality stereotypes.
  • Stretch assignments: Design developmental assignments that challenge employees to grow beyond their personality comfort zones in supportive ways.
  • Mentoring matches: Consider personality compatibility when matching mentors and mentees, or intentionally create cross-personality mentoring relationships to broaden perspectives.

Building Cultural Competence

Understanding personality diversity through the HEXACO model can enhance employees' broader cultural competence. Training programs can help employees recognize that just as they need to adapt their communication and collaboration styles to work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds, they also benefit from adapting to different personality styles.

This parallel can make the concept of cultural adaptation more concrete and relatable, while also emphasizing that personality diversity is one of many forms of diversity that organizations should value and accommodate.

Creating Inclusive Policies and Practices

Beyond individual-level applications, HEXACO insights can inform organizational policies and practices that create more inclusive environments for employees with diverse personality profiles.

Flexible Work Arrangements

Different personality types may thrive in different work environments and structures. Organizations can use HEXACO insights to design flexible work policies that accommodate this diversity:

  • Location flexibility: Recognize that some personality types (particularly those lower in Extraversion) may be more productive when working remotely or in quiet spaces, while others thrive on the energy of a busy office environment.
  • Schedule flexibility: Understand that highly conscientious individuals may prefer structured schedules, while those higher in Openness might appreciate more flexibility to work when inspiration strikes.
  • Workspace design: Create office environments that include both collaborative spaces for extraverted employees and quiet zones for those who need solitude to focus.
  • Meeting structures: Design meeting formats that allow for both spontaneous discussion (which extraverts may prefer) and advance preparation and written input (which may be preferred by introverts or highly conscientious individuals).

Performance Management Systems

Performance management systems should be designed to fairly evaluate employees with different personality profiles, recognizing that there are multiple paths to success:

  • Multiple success metrics: Evaluate performance using diverse criteria that capture different types of contributions, not just those that come most naturally to certain personality types.
  • Behavioral anchors: When defining competencies and performance standards, ensure that behavioral examples include approaches that might be taken by individuals with different personality profiles.
  • Feedback delivery: Train managers to adapt their feedback delivery to different personality types, recognizing that some employees may prefer direct, immediate feedback while others benefit from time to reflect on written feedback.
  • Goal setting: Support employees in setting goals that leverage their personality strengths while also including developmental goals that stretch them.

Recognition and Rewards

Different personality types may be motivated by different types of recognition and rewards. Inclusive organizations offer varied recognition approaches:

  • Public vs. private recognition: While extraverted employees may appreciate public recognition, introverted employees might prefer private acknowledgment of their contributions.
  • Individual vs. team recognition: Balance recognition of individual achievements with team accomplishments to honor both those who prefer to work independently and those who thrive in collaborative settings.
  • Varied reward types: Offer diverse rewards that appeal to different personality types, from social events to opportunities for independent learning and development.

Measuring the Impact of HEXACO-Informed Diversity Initiatives

To ensure that HEXACO-based approaches are genuinely supporting diversity and inclusion goals, organizations need to measure their impact systematically.

Key Metrics and Indicators

Organizations should track multiple metrics to assess whether their HEXACO-informed initiatives are achieving desired outcomes:

  • Hiring diversity: Monitor whether the use of HEXACO assessments in hiring is associated with increased diversity in terms of background, experience, and demographic characteristics, or whether it's inadvertently creating new barriers.
  • Employee engagement: Track engagement scores across employees with different personality profiles to ensure that workplace practices are inclusive of diverse personality types.
  • Retention rates: Analyze retention data to determine whether employees with different personality profiles are staying with the organization at similar rates.
  • Promotion equity: Examine whether employees with different personality types are advancing at equitable rates, or whether certain personality profiles are disproportionately represented in leadership.
  • Inclusion perceptions: Survey employees about their perceptions of inclusion, analyzing results by personality profile to identify whether certain personality types feel less included.
  • Team performance: Assess whether teams with greater personality diversity (as measured by HEXACO) demonstrate enhanced performance, innovation, or problem-solving.

Continuous Improvement

Based on measurement results, organizations should continuously refine their approaches:

  • Regular assessment reviews: Periodically review how personality assessments are being used and whether they're supporting or hindering diversity goals.
  • Policy adjustments: Modify policies and practices based on data about what's working for employees with different personality profiles.
  • Training refinement: Update training programs based on feedback and outcomes data to ensure they're effectively reaching employees with diverse personalities.
  • Stakeholder feedback: Regularly solicit feedback from employees about whether they feel their personality style is valued and accommodated in the workplace.

Challenges and Limitations to Consider

While the HEXACO model offers valuable insights for diversity and inclusion efforts, it's important to recognize its limitations and potential pitfalls.

Avoiding Stereotyping and Pigeonholing

One of the greatest risks in using personality assessments is the tendency to stereotype individuals based on their results. Organizations must remember that:

  • Personality traits exist on continua, not as binary categories
  • Individuals can and do behave differently in different contexts
  • Personality is just one aspect of who someone is, alongside their skills, experiences, values, and cultural background
  • People can develop new capabilities and behaviors that may not come naturally based on their personality profile
  • Assessment results should never be used to limit opportunities or make assumptions about what someone can or cannot do

Cultural Considerations

While the HEXACO model was developed through cross-cultural research, organizations should be mindful of cultural factors when applying it:

  • Personality expression may vary across cultures, even if underlying traits are similar
  • Some cultures may emphasize certain personality traits more than others
  • Self-report assessments may be influenced by cultural response styles
  • Organizations should ensure that assessments are properly validated for the cultural contexts in which they're used

Integration with Other Diversity Dimensions

Personality diversity is just one form of diversity, and it should complement rather than replace attention to other important diversity dimensions:

  • Focus on personality diversity should not distract from addressing systemic barriers faced by marginalized groups based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other characteristics
  • Organizations should be cautious about using personality as an explanation for disparities that may actually reflect discrimination or structural inequities
  • Personality insights should be integrated into broader diversity and inclusion strategies, not treated as a complete solution

Privacy and Data Protection

Organizations must handle personality assessment data responsibly:

  • Clearly communicate how assessment data will be used and stored
  • Limit access to assessment results to those with a legitimate need to know
  • Provide individuals with control over their data when possible
  • Ensure compliance with data protection regulations
  • Never share individual assessment results without consent

Best Practices for Implementing HEXACO-Based Diversity Initiatives

Organizations that want to leverage the HEXACO model to support diversity and inclusion should follow these evidence-based best practices.

Start with Clear Objectives

Before implementing HEXACO assessments or initiatives, clearly define what you hope to achieve:

  • Are you trying to reduce bias in hiring?
  • Build more effective, diverse teams?
  • Develop more inclusive leaders?
  • Create a workplace culture that values personality diversity?
  • Improve employee engagement and retention across diverse personality types?

Clear objectives will guide your implementation approach and help you measure success.

Ensure Proper Training

Anyone who will be using HEXACO assessments or interpreting results should receive thorough training:

  • Understanding of the HEXACO model and what each dimension measures
  • Proper administration and interpretation of assessments
  • Awareness of limitations and potential biases
  • Legal and ethical considerations
  • How to use results constructively without stereotyping
  • Integration of personality insights with other diversity and inclusion knowledge

Communicate Transparently

Be open with employees about how and why you're using personality assessments:

  • Explain the purpose and potential benefits
  • Clarify how results will and won't be used
  • Address concerns and questions
  • Emphasize that assessments are tools for understanding and development, not for limiting opportunities
  • Provide employees with their own results and help them understand what they mean

Use Multiple Data Points

Never rely solely on personality assessments for important decisions:

  • In hiring, combine personality data with skills assessments, interviews, work samples, and reference checks
  • In team building, consider not just personality but also skills, expertise, and experience
  • In leadership development, look at personality alongside demonstrated capabilities, values, and potential
  • In performance management, evaluate actual behaviors and results, not just personality traits

Foster a Growth Mindset

Emphasize that personality insights are tools for growth and development, not fixed labels:

  • Help employees understand that they can develop new skills and behaviors
  • Provide support and resources for development in areas that may not come naturally
  • Celebrate examples of employees successfully stretching beyond their personality comfort zones
  • Avoid language that suggests personality traits are unchangeable limitations

Monitor for Unintended Consequences

Regularly assess whether your use of HEXACO is having the intended positive impact or creating new problems:

  • Are certain personality profiles being systematically advantaged or disadvantaged?
  • Are managers using personality as an excuse for not addressing performance issues?
  • Are employees feeling pigeonholed or limited by their personality profiles?
  • Is personality diversity being valued at the expense of other important forms of diversity?

The Future of HEXACO in Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

As organizations continue to prioritize diversity and inclusion, the role of personality assessment tools like HEXACO is likely to evolve.

Emerging Research and Applications

The rise of big data and machine learning presents opportunities to leverage large datasets for more precise personality assessments and predictions. For instance, digital platforms and social media offer vast amounts of information that could be analyzed to gain insights into personality traits and their impact on behavior.

However, these technological advances also raise important ethical questions about privacy, consent, and the appropriate use of personality data. Organizations will need to navigate these issues carefully, ensuring that innovation in personality assessment serves rather than undermines diversity and inclusion goals.

Integration with Broader DEI Strategies

The most effective use of HEXACO insights will likely come from integrating them into comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies that address multiple dimensions of diversity simultaneously. The pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion will significantly influence the future of HR. The HEXACO Personality Inventory is designed to offer an objective, bias-free evaluation of candidates and employees, thereby fostering a more equitable work environment. This aspect is not just an ethical but also a business necessity, as diverse teams are more innovative and effective.

Organizations should view personality diversity as one thread in the larger tapestry of workplace diversity, complementing efforts to increase representation of underrepresented groups, create equitable systems and processes, and build cultures where all employees feel they belong.

Continued Research Needs

While research on HEXACO and workplace diversity is growing, many questions remain:

  • How do personality and other diversity dimensions interact to influence workplace experiences and outcomes?
  • What are the most effective ways to leverage personality diversity in teams?
  • How can organizations best support employees in developing inclusive behaviors that may not come naturally based on their personality?
  • What are the long-term impacts of personality-informed diversity initiatives on organizational culture and performance?

Continued research in these areas will help organizations use HEXACO insights more effectively to support their diversity and inclusion goals.

Practical Resources and Tools

Organizations interested in applying HEXACO insights to their diversity and inclusion efforts have access to various resources and tools.

Assessment Instruments

Ashton and Lee have developed self- and observer report forms of the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R). The HEXACO-PI-R assesses the six broad HEXACO personality factors, each of which contains four "facets", or narrower personality characteristics.

The HEXACO-PI-R is available in multiple versions, including a 200-item full version, a 100-item version, and a 60-item short version. We recommend the HEXACO-60 for use in personality assessment contexts in which administration time is limited. Organizations should select the version that best balances their needs for detailed information with practical constraints around assessment time.

Professional Development Resources

HR professionals and organizational leaders can deepen their understanding of HEXACO through various resources:

  • Academic research articles on HEXACO and workplace applications
  • Books on the HEXACO model, including "The H Factor of Personality" by Ashton and Lee
  • Professional training programs on personality assessment and interpretation
  • Conferences and workshops focused on personality psychology and organizational applications
  • Online resources and communities for HR professionals interested in evidence-based personality assessment

External Links for Further Learning

For those interested in learning more about the HEXACO model and its applications, several authoritative resources are available online:

Conclusion: Building Truly Inclusive Workplaces Through Personality Understanding

The HEXACO model offers organizations a scientifically grounded framework for understanding and valuing personality diversity as one important dimension of workplace inclusion. By recognizing that employees differ not just in their backgrounds and experiences, but also in fundamental personality traits that influence how they think, feel, and behave, organizations can create environments where diverse individuals truly thrive.

When applied thoughtfully and ethically, HEXACO insights can enhance virtually every aspect of the employee experience, from recruitment and hiring to team composition, leadership development, training programs, and workplace policies. Assessing candidates' personality traits leads to more informed hiring decisions, reducing turnover rates and related costs. The HEXACO Test helps identify candidates with diverse skills and backgrounds, fostering a more inclusive work environment.

However, organizations must approach personality assessment with care, avoiding the pitfalls of stereotyping, pigeonholing, or using personality as an excuse for inequitable treatment. The goal is not to create homogeneous teams of similar personalities, but rather to understand, value, and leverage personality diversity alongside other forms of diversity.

Most importantly, organizations should remember that personality diversity is just one thread in the rich tapestry of human diversity. A truly inclusive workplace values and accommodates differences in personality while also addressing systemic barriers faced by marginalized groups, creating equitable opportunities for all employees, and building a culture where everyone feels they belong.

By integrating HEXACO insights into comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, organizations can move closer to creating workplaces where all employees—regardless of their personality profile, background, or identity—can contribute their unique talents and perspectives, collaborate effectively with colleagues who differ from them, and achieve their full potential. This is the promise of personality-informed diversity and inclusion: not a replacement for other DEI efforts, but a valuable complement that enriches our understanding of what it means to create truly inclusive organizations.