Ethical employees are those who make decisions in the best interest of their employers, co-workers and outside stakeholders in addition to themselves. Workplace ethics center on such diverse issues as discrimination, fraud, theft and personal politics. Although all people are intrinsically valuable, ethical employees can actually be more financially valuable to their employers, and more valued by co-workers and peers. Understanding how ethics can make you a better person in the workplace is a solid starting point for a commitment to always doing the right thing (Ingram, 2018). In fact, there is no chance of survival for anyone that trivializes the place of sound ethics in this modern dispensation.
Before I delve into how work ethics can be built in the workplace, let me give a definition of it which will serve as the guiding principle for us. Work ethic is a belief that hard work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities (Business Dictionary, 2018). It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination or desire to work hard. Social inculcation of this value is considered to enhance character through hard work that is respective to an individual’s field of work (Zgaga et al., 2014). Proponents of a strong work ethic consider it to be vital for achieving goals, that it gives strength to their orientation and the right mindset. A work ethic is a set of moral principles a person uses in their job. People who possess a strong work ethic embody certain principles that guide their work behavior, leading them to produce high-quality work consistently and the output motivates them to stay on track. A good work ethic fuels an individual’s needs and goals, it is related to the initiative by a person for the objectives. It is considered as a source of self-respect, satisfaction, and fulfillment (Anastasia, 2016).
Being ethical has so many advantages in today’s world. Some of them are:
Productive work: Individuals with a good work ethic are usually very productive people who work at a faster pace. They regularly accomplish more work, more quickly than those who lack a work ethic, for they do not quit until the work which they are tasked is completed. At least in part, this is also due to the fact that they wish to appear to be stronger employees, and thus, they wish to appear to be of more benefit to their managers and the company (Anastasia, 2016).
Cooperation: Cooperative work can be highly beneficial in a business entity, individuals with a good work ethic know this well. They understand the usefulness of cooperation, e.g., teamwork — they often put an extensive amount of effort into working well with others. Such people usually respect company authority enough to cooperate with anyone else with whom they are paired, in a polite and productive way, even if the individuals in question are not so ethically inclined (Anastasia, 2016).
Team cohesiveness: The ethical commitment of individual employees has an effect on team and department performance in addition to individual performance. Being an ethical employee makes you a better team player, always making positive contributions in group settings and never hindering group progress. An employee who is stealing from company funds, for example, can cause divisions, rumors and resentment among accounting employees as co-workers begin to suspect others of participating. An employee with a solid commitment to ethics can identify and expose issues of theft early (Ingram, 2018).
Value to employers: Companies live or die on the trust they place in their employees. An unethical employee in the ranks can land an entire company in legal trouble, or can destroy a company’s hard-earned reputation in the marketplace. Ethical employees are better people to have working for any company, as top managers and business owners can rest assured that their employees adhere to ethics policies and use ethical reasoning when making company decisions (Ingram, 2018).
Personal wellness: Being an ethical employee can make you a better person on the inside in addition to increasing your value to others. Unethical acts such as theft and fraud, for example, can weigh people down with guilt and paranoia, resulting in hostile and fearful attitudes at work and at home. Employees who spread nasty rumors or lies about others can live in a constant state of paranoia, as another example, as they try to remember which lies they told to whom and when. Using ethics to guide all of your decisions at work can grant you peace of mind, emotional stability and the ability to cultivate lasting friendships. This can increase your job satisfaction, in addition to giving you more serenity for life in general (Ingram, 2018).
The advantages are too numerous that I cannot capture them in a single short article as this. However, in order for you to be able to exhibit these positive work ethics, integrity must be your watchword. Integrity should permeate every aspect of your job, from how you deal with your clients to how you treat your co-workers and your superiors. It means doing the right things, at all times, even if no one is watching, much less your boss. Its greatest impact is seen in your relationships with the people around you, which is why integrity is seen as one of the most important ingredients of Trust. According to Robert Shaw, you can earn a certain level of trust if you are able to achieve results while demonstrating concern for others and acting with integrity the whole time (Martin, 2017).
In addition, you must be disciplined. Work ethic is something that emanates from within. You can tell an employee to do this and that, be like this and like that, over and over, but if they do not have enough discipline to adhere to the rules and follow through with their performance, then there is no way that they can become the productive employees that the company wants. Discipline involves focus, dedication and determination on your part to do what you should (Martin, 2017).
So far, you can see that possessing a positive work ethic is very admirable and outstanding. Once you understand its purpose and essence, you can always go for it!
References
Anastasia (2016). Work Ethic Definition and Elements of a Strong Work Ethic. Retrieved from https://www.cleverism.com/work-ethic-definition-elements-strong-work-ethic/
Ingram, D (2018). How Do Ethics Make You Better In The Workplace? Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethics-make-better-person-workplace-11979.html
Martin (2017). 7 Things You Should Do to Demonstrate a Strong Work Ethic to your Employer. Retrieved from https://www.cleverism.com/7-things-demonstrate-strong-work-ethic/
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