Are you benefiting from beautynomics?

If you found out your boss rated you on a scale of one to 10 — 10 being hot and one not so — you’d be scandalised. A wolf whistle would be outrageous, a sexist joke pathetic at best and ammunition for an employment tribunal at worst.

You may not like it but it might actually land you a promotion. According to Professor Alison Wolf, economist and Director of Public Services Policy and Management at King’s College, London, beauty has a big impact on whether you get ahead. “It’s all quite subconscious,” she explains, “as people are mostly not aware they are prejudiced.” But as she explains in her latest book, The XX Factor, our instincts tell us beautiful people are superior. Not only are they sexually desirable, but they appear more successful because they have already won the Darwinian battle. So it becomes self-fulfilling: we think beautiful people are more successful so they are provided with opportunities to be more successful.

The book is the latest to explore the hot-to-not hierarchy. Texan professor Daniel S Hamermesh’s Beauty Pays coined the phrase “pulchronomics”, establishing a link between earning power and beauty, estimating that the genetically-blessed earn significantly more than homely colleagues.

Why do looks matter in the workplace? Professor Wolf says attractive people give off an impression of general “fitness”. Their looks suggest they take care of their health. Then there’s the inexplicable but undeniable argument: everyone responds better to a pretty face.

“Attractive people may do better at work, particularly in certain industries and in client facing or decision-making roles,” says Dr Michael Sinclair, counselling psychologist and clinical director at City Psychology Group.

Wolf says there is no gender bias — men and women suffer or benefit as much as each other. Anecdotally, this seems sketchy: female CEOs such as Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer, while undeniably qualified, are also very attractive. Male CEOs and public leaders don’t fall as easily into the cookie-cutter beauty model.

“People seem to read obesity as a sign of lack of control,” Professor Wolf adds. “I think it’s worse for women, they get penalised more than men.”

Labour market data indicate the negative connotations of obesity could affect women inordinately. Beauty Pays, however, suggests men experience a more looks-based pay gap than women. But a warning from Kiran Daurka, employment lawyer at London firm Slater & Gordon: “To judge an employee on how they look leaves an employer wide-open to claims for discrimination.” As the old adage goes, beauty is only skin-deep — but its repercussions could go deeper.