Work ethics influence the productivity and success of employees. We offer relevant examples of good work ethics and the way they can generate high-quality results, as well as bad work ethics and the way they can be detrimental. We will also offer some tips to develop strong work ethics.
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Work ethics represent a set of values and standards of behavior, which determine how employees approach their work. They define what is and is not acceptable to do in the workplace.
Employees’ work ethics depend on multiple factors – the personal values of employees, overall company culture and policies, professionalism, commitment, and motivation.
Employees with good work ethic skills are more likely to perform quality work, complete tasks faster, and exceed expectations. Besides contributing to a company’s performance and success, this will also lead to personal development, job growth, and financial benefits.
Strong work ethics are determined by work ethic traits: productivity, communication, cooperation, organizational skills, appearance, attendance, attitude, discipline, and character. An employee who has most of these traits and takes the time to nurture them will most likely develop good work ethics and values.
Time management is the process of controlling the way you spend your time on specific daily tasks and activities, so as to maximize efficiency. There are numerous well-tested tools that help employees set goals and prioritize tasks, including:
Time management is a key organizational skill, but physical organization is important as well. Employees spend as much as a quarter of their time looking for things that they need to get the work done. Developing strong physical organization skills can greatly increase the productivity of employees.
Companies prefer promoting internally rather than hiring externally, with average employees getting a promotion every three years. However, in a company with strong work ethics, slackers never get promoted. If you want to get noticed by your superiors, you must get be proactive and do some hard work. You need to show a positive attitude and look for situations where you can take the initiative.
People have always been social creatures, so cooperation and teamwork are impossible without effective communication. This is especially true for business projects and successful companies.
Your ability to communicate with other employees is crucial to the efficiency of all your work ethic skills. If managed professionally, it can lead to quality work and success in the workplace. Make sure you take the time and resources to invest in developing your communication skills.
Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and assess facts and observations to form objective conclusions and unbiased judgments. The five components of critical thinking are:
A great critical thinker is inquisitive, open-minded, analytical, systematic, judicious, and confident in reasoning. In the workplace, critical thinkers quickly outline problems and their causes.
Critical thinkers are usually good problem solvers as well. In fact, most jobs amount to a lot of problem-solving, for the benefit of the customer, the company, or the work environment.
After finding multiple possible solutions, problem solvers know how to choose the best one, implement it, and evaluate the outcome. Some great techniques for problem-solving include:
We live in an era of information expansion, which requires a lot of hard work to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in business, technology, and society in general.
This applies to career growth as well. There is no professional evolution without learning. A valuable employee is always well-informed and has the know-how to do their job by using the newest research, tools, and techniques.
An employee’s willingness to learn and grow cannot be enforced by the employer, or by anyone else. It needs to come naturally and is mostly determined by the innate curiosity of the person.
However, employees can be stimulated to develop their willingness to learn through company policies and various incentives.
One’s thirst for knowledge and dedication to self-development leads to strong work ethics and determines the outlook of their career.
The following are a few examples of good work ethic practices and the ways in which they help employees be productive and achieve success in the workplace.
Alex’s main responsibility is to organize what happens at his company’s office, in an efficient manner. Alex loves to keep things organized and maintain order, so he goes out of his way to ensure that everything at the office goes smoothly.
He gets an early start each morning, to be the first one to show up at the workplace and get things ready. He uses task management software and has separate e-mail inboxes for different senders. He is quite efficient in physical organization as well – he has created professional folders and keeps them sorted neatly, plus a wall-mounted calendar with tasks and deadlines.
Alex is a good example of a dedicated, reliable, well-organized employee with high self-discipline, who helps his co-workers stay productive and is highly appreciated. His dedication and discipline may ultimately lead to a promotion to Office Manager and beyond.
Jane is a QA Analyst for a software company in Silicon Valley. Her job is to test software and to ensure that it is working as intended. Her main goal is to identify and eradicate all problems before the software is released.
Jane’s job involves a lot of critical thinking and problem-solving, and a lot of repetitiveness as well. She needs to perform the same operations over and over again, to make sure that no error was missed. Nevertheless, being one of the highly motivated members of the team, Jane always takes extra time to test for long periods.
In time, this approach helped Jane build a reputation as one of the best QA Analysts in the company and as an employee with a strong work ethic. Managers can confidently rely on her to test the company’s flagship products and services, which makes her an essential part of the team and often brings her to the spotlight. This means that Jane has a great career ahead of her. Regardless if she chooses to work for one company or another in the future – her reputation will always precede her.
Joe is the newest intern at a big corporate law firm. His innate curiosity and inquisitiveness make him bombard the team with questions about court cases, clients, and legal knowledge. Even though he can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, team members know to appreciate his willingness to learn.
Being in his Senior year in college, Joe is eager to get his career going and is always on the lookout for new opportunities. Given his proactive approach and his thirst for knowledge, the managers will surely keep him in mind for new tasks or projects, when the need arises.
Poor work ethics usually come from a general disinterest in the job and the lack of a professional attitude. A poor work ethic can manifest itself through slacking, bad work habits, procrastination, lack of productivity, disregard for deadlines, and other similar counter-productive behavior.
The following are several examples of bad work ethics and their negative impact on the workplace and on employees.
No one wants a belligerent, callous colleague. Besides not being productive themselves, these employees spread pessimism in the workplace through their bad work ethics and create a negative vibe for the team.
We all know the type – employees who would rather waste their time doing anything else except high-quality work. Their lack of interest and discipline is both contagious and frustrating to the employees who are actually trying to get something done.
Besides burying their own career prospects by having no work ethic, employees who neglect their health and appearance are irritating and demoralizing their superiors and their colleagues. You cannot expect managers to trust you with important projects or tasks if they see that you are not even capable of taking care of yourself.
Ther are several efficient ways to develop positive work ethics and build new skills that make you an efficient employee and excellent teammate.
Highly disciplined employees who always show up on time are seen as reliable by both their superiors and their colleagues. Besides, employees who are consistent and rigorous about their schedule will have the time to fulfill personal commitments as well.
Being dedicated to your job means caring about your results. Avoid finger-pointing and take full responsibility for your successes and failures equally. Employees appreciate a person who is not afraid of accountability, as it signals professionalism and strong moral principles.
Whatever you do in your professional career, you need a roadmap. If you set short-term goals and long-term objectives and work hard to reach them, your commitment will pay off handsomely in the long run.
Your team members are your family away from home. For better or worse, these are the people most likely to help you grow and achieve results. Do not forget that, especially when you get into heated arguments, which tend to happen a lot when serious work is done. Show other employees the same amount of respect and empathy that you would like to get in return.
Great managers and team players know how to maintain their commitment and professionalism in almost any situation. Having control and composure in critical moments is what defines employees as reliable and marks them for future career growth in the company.
A positive work ethic is crucial to your professionalism and career development. Without good ethics, your job satisfaction will erode rapidly, and you will feel unfulfilled and aimless.
On the other hand, taking the time to build strong work ethics can be extremely rewarding and you will quickly notice that your career is finally moving uphill.
