Scheller College of Business Ph.D. candidates Amy Breidenthal and Dana Harari recently researched the performance of perfectionists in the workplace. Utilizing four decades of study (which included nearly 25,000 working-age individuals) to determine if self-proclaimed "perfectionists" are better performers at work, they found that perfectionism is a much bigger weakness than employers and employees probably assume.
Their results – published in Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Applied Psychology – find that while perfectionists are generally more motivated on the job and can be more engaged at work, they also exhibit numerous “detrimental” work and non-work outcomes, including higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.
Read the Harvard Business Review article: “The Pros and Cons of Perfectionism, According to Research.