Chrome and Firefox Users Make Better Employees

If you’ve ever been frustrated by an IT department that forces you to use Internet Explorer, you may have been acting in your company’s best interest. Research published by Cornerstone OnDemand suggests that employees who use non-default browsers such as Chrome or Firefox tend to perform better and stay in their jobs longer.

The finding is based on data from approximately 50,000 individuals who completed Cornerstone’s 45-minute online job assessment and were subsequently hired. Those who took the assessment using Chrome or Firefox remained in their roles an average of 15 percent longer than those who used Internet Explorer or Safari.

At that scale, the pattern is statistically significant rather than anecdotal. Speaking with Freakonomics, Michael Housman, Chief Analytics Officer at Cornerstone OnDemand, suggested the difference may reflect underlying behavior rather than technical preference.

Chrome and Firefox users may simply be more informed consumers, willing to make an active choice rather than accept a default option.

The analysis focused largely on customer-service and sales roles—jobs that typically have high turnover and significant training costs. In such environments, even modest improvements in employee retention can translate into meaningful business impact.

Beyond the headline-grabbing browser insight, the research highlights a broader point about people analytics: large-scale data can validate—or challenge—longstanding gut instincts. Traits that once felt anecdotal can sometimes be observed systematically, provided they are interpreted with care.

Cornerstone cautions that browser choice itself should never be used as a hiring criterion. Instead, it serves as an example of how subtle behavioral signals can emerge from big data, reinforcing the need for rigorous analysis rather than intuition alone.