Sales jobs make people neurotic, but employers can protect workers’ health – just look at the construction industry

Neuroticism is one of the Big Five personality traits, characterised by a tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, and frustration. Individuals with high levels of neuroticism are often more sensitive to stress and more likely to react negatively to challenges.

This trait can significantly impact job performance, mental health, and overall life satisfaction, and can also exacerbate mental disorders, including comorbidity – the co-existence of multiple disorders.

The adverse consequences of neuroticism are usually passed on to public health systems, where the overall economic burden of neuroticism has long surpassed the costs associated with treating common mental disorders.

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For sales professionals, the job’s inherent uncertainties – such as long sales cycles, complex negotiations, and reliance on commissions – can create a breeding ground for neurotic tendencies. This is especially true for B2B (business to business) salespeople, whose work differs greatly from the consumer salespeople we all interact with.

A consumer salesperson might, for instance, sell you a car – the process would take a few hours at most, with minimal repercussions if the deal fell through. However, a B2B salesperson would be responsible for selling a large company a fleet of vehicles, or a wholesale shipment of parts to a car manufacturer.

These deals can take a long time to close, and involve large transactions, complex products, multiple stakeholders and unpredictable outcomes. All of this massively increases uncertainty.

B2B sales jobs and neuroticism

Our comprehensive study, which involved around 1,700 B2B salespeople and 24,000 non-sales professionals, found a clear link between B2B sales roles and increased neuroticism. The research shows that the constant uncertainty in B2B sales jobs triggers defensive emotional responses which, when activated frequently, can reinforce and heighten neuroticism over time.

Certain features of B2B sales jobs are at the root of this trend:

• Complex customer needs: B2B salespeople often deal with clients who have multifaceted requirements that need tailored solutions. This can lead to prolonged decision-making processes and uncertain outcomes.

• Long sales cycles: B2B sales cycles can last months, with success dependent on numerous variables, including the decisions of various stakeholders within the client’s organisation.

• Negotiation toughness: B2B sales often involve tough negotiations with clients who are experienced in securing the best deals. This can create a high-pressure environment where the salesperson’s success is constantly under threat.

• Variable Compensation: Many sales roles are heavily reliant on commissions, meaning that financial stability is directly tied to performance. This uncertainty can exacerbate stress and anxiety, particularly during periods of low sales.

Mental health and safety: lessons from construction work

The harmful effects of chronic uncertainty in sales work – namely, a change in personality that may lead to mental disorders – should be treated, in essence, like any other workplace hazard.

Just as the construction industry takes steps to protect workers from physical harm, corporate organisations should consider protecting their employees from psychological harm, particularly in high-pressure roles like B2B sales.

While construction workers wear helmets and safety gear, sales professionals need mental and emotional safeguards to mitigate the risks associated with their work.

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The first step for both individuals and companies is to acknowledge the risks associated with B2B sales roles. For employers, this means recognising that these roles can have a significant impact on mental health – similar to how some jobs might carry physical risks – and back this up by offering support to employees. For employees, this means having access to the facts and using them to make informed career choices, as well as taking their own mental health into consideration when accepting new work.

Sales organisations can take proactive steps to support their employees’ mental health. This might include offering mindfulness programs, gym memberships, or access to mental health counselling, as well as making sure employees have time to use these services. Providing paid personal days may also allow employees to take time off when they need a mental health break, promoting a healthier work-life balance and helping prevent an increase in neuroticism.

Managers can also play a crucial role by redesigning sales roles to reduce the factors that contribute to uncertainty and neuroticism. This might involve simplifying sales targets, offering clearer feedback, or providing more stable compensation plans to makes salespeople less dependent on commissions.

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Regular mental health checkups should also be required. Just as safety inspections are routine (and often required by law) in physically demanding jobs, psychological assessments should be a standard practice in sales organisations. By regularly assessing employees’ levels of neuroticism and other personality traits, companies can identify when intervention is needed.

Finally, offering training programs that equip salespeople with the skills to handle long sales cycles and tough negotiations can serve as both a development tool and a preventive measure against neuroticism. These programs not only enhance job performance, but also provide employees with strategies to manage the stressors that contribute to psychological harm.