Not every employer requires current and potential workers to take a personality test, but such an assessment could yield benefits in the areas of productivity and professional growth, according to Mohammed Othman, a researcher at Concordia University.

In a recent paper, which was published in the journal "Computers & Industrial Engineering," Othman set out to see what impact taking workers' personalities into account could have around the workplace.

"Workforce planning is usually done in the manager's mind - what he or she knows about the workers and their abilities," said Othman.

Rather than taking this approach, Othman believes that managers should use personality tests to gain a better sense of workers' level of motivation, ability to learn and other characteristics that could help them find the right place for these individuals within an organization.

In his paper, Othman also took workers' personalities into account when determining the cost of running a manufacturing shop floor over an eight-week period. Cost savings of 7.1 percent were generated when workers were placed in roles with the goal of minimizing hiring, firing, training and overtime expenses.