It’s important for employers to ensure return-to-office policies reflect legitimate business needs rather than individual leaders’ preferences, says Latifa Soobedar, a clinical psychologist at Serefin Health.

A new study published by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found leaders who display narcissistic traits may be more likely to resist remote work because it limits their ability to exercise power and reinforce their status.

The study was based on an analysis of 259 Fortune 500 chief executive officers and a survey of more than 350 U.S. company leaders and an experiment involving more than 500 managers. Across the three studies, researchers found narcissistic traits predicted greater resistance to remote work, with motivations for power and status helping to explain the relationship.

Read: How employees, employers are approaching remote working amid renewed return-to-office push

According to the study, leaders with narcissistic traits may prefer face-to-face work because it provides greater opportunities to attract attention, exercise control and receive admiration. However, Soobedar cautions the findings describe broad traits and behaviours and shouldn’t be used to characterize individual leaders.

A return-to-office policy based primarily on........

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