Qualities of a Good Employee – The Top 10

3rd July 2012

Author: MIGAS
Categories: News & Blogs Staff Blog

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Qualities of a Good Employee

What are ten things that make an employee valuable to an employer?  The list below might seem rather simple but if you’re an employer you’ll find it difficult to fill it in for each and every employee, so let’s go through and talk a little bit about each of these characteristics.

Reliability – What’s that?  Does it mean you have to turn up every day?  Well, in a perfect world that would be ideal but let’s be realistic.  A reliable employee is someone who, when they are sick or need time off, rings up and takes the time to let you know.  And that doesn’t mean 5 minutes before start time.  A reliable employee is also someone who you can give a job to, and if they understand the job, they go off and do it, and if they don’t – they ask enough questions to clarify in their own mind what it is they are suppose to do.

Honesty – This seems like a simple one and we all like to think we are honest.  But I think honesty goes hand in hand with reliability and integrity which is our next key characteristic.

Integrity – Integrity is well, what is integrity?  To me integrity takes in the other two characteristics above and adds a dose of “I don’t mind putting up my hand when I know I’ve done something wrong” or “it’s my fault”.  It means standing up for what is right and treating people the way you’d like to be treated.  There are many people in history who have a reputation for having high integrity, honesty and reliability.  Think of your closest role model and you’ll be on track.

Drive / Hunger – Needs to be separated from ruthlessness.  Drive and hunger is that insatiable need for learning and for achieving, and while doing these two things you take along your workmates and all of your team members so that the whole team benefits the “learnings” and the lessons we often get from day to day work activities.

Loyalty – What this means to an employer is more than just turning up each day but appreciating what a good employer supplies to an employee and vice versa.  It can come down to something as simple as giving someone who is reliable and honest time off to do something in work time and not docking them pay.  It can also mean working back a little bit each day to get a job finished and not clock watching to get out the door as soon as knock off time comes.

Adaptability – Being able to turn your hand to any and all jobs that you’re given within reason.  We have a saying in MIGAS, “there is no such thing as “it’s not my job””.  We expect everybody in our team to be adaptable and do whatever has to be done to get the job done.

Personality – No one wants to work with a grump, a bore, or someone who is continually in a bad mood.  Sure we all have bad days and most people understand when someone comes in a little bit under the weather, but we come to work for one third of our life and it needs to have a bit of fun in it.  We all should try to adapt and understand the different types of personalities in our workplace and accept that we are not all the same.

Presentation – Self presentation is important.  It is said that people draw their lasting impression of a person within the first two minutes of meeting them, and one of the biggest impressions we get straight off the bat is presentation.  So go get you’re hair cut, clean your shoes and iron your clothes – you will be amazed how far you go just on that.

Attitude – This is the hardest thing to define but if you’re doing all the other eight things listed above then it’s hard to imagine you don’t have the right attitude.  To me it’s easy to see a person with a good attitude but it’s even easier to spot someone with a poor attitude.  It’s how you carry yourself, talk, dress, address others, and a big dose of self respect.  At MIGAS we hire for attitude above nearly everything else.  Give me an apprentice or employee with the right attitude and I’ll teach them all the skills to be a winner.

Well, the above list might seem unachievable – I don’t think it is.  These are the sorts of things we look for in our prospective apprentices or we look for the ability to be able to achieve of the above.

David Brown
MIGAS CEO

 

Qualities of a Good Employee