Work Ethics

“So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work.”

(Nehemiah 4:6)

The rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem during Nehemiah’s time ran into some stiff opposition. Daniel had prophesied that the walls would be built again “even in troublous times” (Daniel 9:25), and they surely were. In our verse we have a record of the building during troublous times. This building succeeded because there was persistency in the work, progress in the work, and passion for the work.

Persistency in the work. “So built we the wall.” Too often when opposition comes, the resulting “so” is more like “so we quit.” But Nehemiah and his fellow Jews did not quit working on the walls in Jerusalem when opposition raised its ugly head. They persisted in their work. One scholar translated this statement, “We still built the wall” which expresses the persistency well. One of the most effective ways to defeat the enemy is to keep doing God’s work. Don’t quit when ridicule or other opposition attacks. Keep going.

Progress in the work. “All the wall was joined together unto the half thereof.” During this time of opposition, the people succeeded in getting the wall completely joined together and halfway finished in its height. They made great progress in spite of the opposition. We can make progress even though difficulties abound. God is not weak but can help us in times of trouble as well as good times (Psalm 46:1).

Passion for the work. “The people had a mind to work.” Having a mind to work was another of the important keys to the success of the people in building the wall. Having a mind to work will keep one working regardless of how difficult the task is or how great the opposition is. One of the great needs of our society is people who have a mind to work. Much of the poverty in our land that politicians make so much over is because people do not have a mind to work. The welfare bunch are often lazy, immoral sluggards who spend much of their time lounging before TV, eating junk food, and drinking booze. A mind to work would stop all this nonsense.

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Daily Bible Reading: Sermonettes #1.

Usually, when the management fails to realize the fruits of good ethical code of conducts and keeps aligned to the prevailing unethical practices, the long term implication is that it derails in achieving the intended long term and sustainable results. Moreover, there lies more disadvantages from working within unethical guidelines. One notable aspect is that managers fail to understand what sound ethical guidelines can bring with them in a company success.

In fact, ethical standards streamline the operations of the company and ease the management function. There is an understanding between the employees and the employer, the workers and the consumers and also within the employees. This promotes hassle-free duty executions, reduced employee complaints, minimized customer complaints and an ultimate smooth running of the company.

Managers work in a less stressful environment and they are relieved off of ugly situations that often arise due to unethical practices. As a manager, would you prefer to achieve great results with little time and energy or you would prefer achieving the same results but under a chaotic and harsh environment where bruising shoulders with the employees is a common feature?

Managers should be intelligent enough and must not be taught that ethics are good for their management role.  They should have an instinct of impressive and excellent results from the perspective of less time and energy for great results!  Employees with good ethical practices should be mentors of the unethical workers.

Ethically guided employees as well as the managers should display their ethical practices and use them to impose a change within the unethically guided personnel.  Setting a good example in ethics presentation is the best course of action.  Managers should show it clearly to the employees how good ethics simplifies and harmonizes their duty performance.

Employees that have excelled well through the use of ethics should be role models of the unethical staff. The management should create a learning experience for the unethical workers.  Usually workers will change their behavior if they learn through examples. The managers should clearly convince the unethical workers that it would be easier and more appropriate to work under good ethical practices and set the examples of the workers who have excelled through practicing good ethics in workplace.

Intertwining work and love affairs

The workplace is usually a busy environment that calls for optimal concentration.  Dating a co-worker usually places both the work obligation and love affairs at crossroads.  There is need to satisfy personal love emotions and also concentrate on the job.  This is surely serving two masters at once.  There is the probability that the duty performance will be compromised as these two partners begin to express their feelings toward one another. This may be regarded as unethical by the management since its hampering the realization of the set goals and objectives.

Interference in duty performance

At times relationships hot up prompting the partners to experience love emotions and feeling which may affect their well-being in workplace.  For instance, employee working in the same department and especially in the same office can experience love emotions that may culminate into another movie scene at the workplace.  To hit the nail on the head, think of a case where the two are left in the same office and the irresistible love emotion builds up.  It may be so intense that it overwhelms both partners and a force of attraction pulls them together.  Guess what! The two could end up messing in their duties.  It must be said that, dating a workmate should be a contemplatively thought-of issue that requires a holistic evaluation to determine how it would impact on the workers performance. 

Can prompt indiscipline

As new relationships grow, there is that overwhelming force that occasionally attracts the partners.  When this happens in the workplace, the partner may end up misbehaving. This can prompt the management to take disciplinary actions against the workers due to engaging in love affairs in the wrong place.  In fact, in extreme cases, the management may decide to dismiss the workers on disciplinary grounds citing overindulgence in unethical behavior and indiscipline in the workplace. This may be on the interest of safeguarding the image of the company to the employees and the business associates in case the story gets out of the company corridors to reach the clients, suppliers or even the media. 

It must be noted that, such dating affair can implicate negatively on the productivity of the workers hence affecting the performance of the workers.  Often, the workers fail to meet targets, give results and the implication on the company initiative may be worrisome. It can also taint the image of the company.  When it persists, this can turn catastrophic by sending the company into a derailment in the process of achieving the set goals and objectives. 

After years of employment, your work ethics should be the best testament to the kind of worker you are. Building your reputation will make it easier for you in case you decide to leave your present job, or something unfortunate happens to make you lose it.

Here are 6 lessons I’ve learned to be a good worker:

1.  Just like in the acting profession, there are no small jobs, just small workers. Whatever role you play at work, do the best you can. You may be the errand boy now, but demonstrate willingness to take on any task, or learn new skills and this will not likely be ignored by superiors. You’ll be earning their trust and could be up for promotion to a position with more responsibilities in the future.

2.  Your first responsibility is to do the tasks assigned to you. Accomplish them in a timely manner and accomplish them well. If it means putting in a little extra work, then go for it as long as the results are what they asked for. Don’t restrict yourself to your duties alone. Learn what others in the workplace are doing, at least the process by which to get them done. Who knows, you might be called upon to lend a hand and they will be more than grateful for your familiarity with the task. 

3.  Be resourceful. Take initiative. These are key ingredients to showing your capability as a reliable worker. It never hurts to go the extra mile to complete what may initially seem like an impossible task. But more often than not, if there’s a will, there will always be a way. You just have to be willing to find it. Many people hesitate to offer assistance simply because it is not part of their assigned duties. Initiative is always appreciated and noted. A superior or co-worker will likely remember if you’ve offered help during crucial times or anticipated needs even when you didn’t have to.

4.  When faced with a crisis, get past casting blame, and get started thinking of solutions to the problem. If it means delegating or asking for help to get it done expeditiously, then don’t take on the burden yourself. Decisions need to be made quickly, but they must be the best to address the situation to keep things from blowing over.

5. It’s not about taking credit for a job well done. Being in a workplace often requires team work. It’s about everyone being aware of the goal. If everyone does what they’re supposed to do, chances are you get things done right and on time. But when Murphy’s Law kicks in, as it usually does, what’s most important is to overcome the challenge that will prevent the accomplishment of the task. And just like in basketball, never mind who actually makes the basket. In the end, it’s knowing you contributed to win the game.

6. People skills matter. You may be the best at what you do but if you don’t know how to relate with people properly, then your skills or talent won’t matter as much.  Learn to deal with those under your watch, and those who watch over you.  They will best validate your person — not just as a worker but as a human being.

Your work will speak for you. People remember those who are trustworthy and reliable in the workplace. Even the smallest things you do to make things easier at work counts. Each day you do your work well is adding to an invisible resume that will precede you in case you need to find new work or transfer jobs.

Office life can be tough sometimes, you might have serious problems at home that make you unable to concentrate in your job. Cancer, heart disease and mental diseases and the most horrible health diseases that makes people even cry in the office when a relative is suffering in the Hospital.

When you are in the Office you should be able to solve some problems you might have at home. Bosses that demand that when you enter the Office you are in a different dimension do not really care about you and can you trust such person? When I was in school, my teachers, all of them, allowed the students to have their mobiles on because one or another had his mother or father seriously ill, one of my classmates even cried daily because of family problems. If such students could not connect to home while in school, some of them would have never finished high school. In the office is the same thing. If you cannot phone home or email home, you can’t just get work done.

On the other hand the same is true. When you do not bring home some work to do for the next day, you will unleash your rage in your spouse and that will mean trouble to the relationship. You should not over do it but when you really need to, bring work at home and solve home problems at work.

However make sure the conversations you engage in are productive and not just yada yada to confirm a person is well right after knowing it from a relative by SMS or any other mean of communication. Your productivity must be unaffected by those problems and if you must use some work time to solve them, make sure you catch up with the work later.

1. Personal skill sets and attributes
2. Professional skill sets and attributes
3. Social skill sets and attributes

Personal skill sets and attributes

This is how you take care of yourself, as a person, as a social being and as an employee. Do you take care of your physical fitness? How you achieve a work/life balance is crucial for keeping you in good mental shape. Do you take care of your professional skill sets and social contacts? Do you relax and engage in recreation regularly so that you can give your best?

Professional skill sets and attributes

This is about your role as the employee and how you take care of that aspect. If other people can see you as being professional, it is easier for them to visualize your blending in with other professionals and systems.

Social skill sets and attributes

This is about how you adjust to other people, their ways of interacting, communicating, working together and being accepted by others.

The following skill sets and attributes are vital for getting a new job or a promotion to a new job.

• Communication skills – You can be very brilliant and have tons of skills, but if you cannot communicate well, your chances of getting employed or promoted decrease significantly. Though this is a part of interpersonal skills, communicating about your job, about yourself and managing results and expectations are specialized areas of interpersonal skills. Countless surveys have shown this. Employers responding to the US National Association of Colleges and Employers or NACE’s Job Outlook 2007 survey specified communication skills as the job seeker’s most important skills and qualities, rated 4,7 on a 1 to 5 scale.
• Motivation – This quality is absolutely vital. Motivation can be recognized in small details or from your attitude. Your motivation shows if you visited the company’s website and did your homework before coming to the job interview or, if you have found out what is required of you and acquired some skills through training to get the promotion you want. Passion for the job/work is a very strong factor in your favour. However, it should be apparent in your deeds and attitude and not in repeating like a parrot “I am passionate about this job”!
• Updating your Skills and Experience – An employee, who constantly evaluates her/his skills set and updates or upgrades them through training or other methods is a gem of an employee. The employer sees immediately the benefit of acquiring an achiever, if there are no other negative factors like arrogance, rudeness, meanness that erode this confidence.
• Resourcefulness – How do you cope when things go wrong? This is an important quality for many jobs though problem solving on your own may not be part of the job picture.
• Work Ethics - Honesty and integrity are very valued qualities. Employers look for dependability. If the employer can picture your being consistently able to deliver as agreed, you have got the job. Sometimes personal values may conflict with company values. How you resolve this conflict is an important factor deciding your employability or promotion.
• Diligence and Professionalism – No employer wants a lazy employee. So you need to prove that you are diligent. Professionalism varies across professions, but underlying it all is a desire to give your best in a recognizably competent fashion. You can be very lazy at times, recharging your batteries but overall you should come out as a diligent person. Having balanced and reasonable expectations about your employer is also a part of professionalism.
• Compatibility with the Job – In addition to the matching of skill sets and experience, you also need to be able to work with other people and other systems. Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, experience etc are illegal but your employability suffers greatly if the employer can detect a mismatch between your personal qualities and job skills and those required on the job. Some of these could be personality issues like communication style, management style, professional qualifications or simply lack of experience in the industry.
• Know-how about the industry and the job - This is what you are going to be hired for. Not only should you have evidence of your ability to do your job, but also that you see how your job fits the bigger picture in the organization or industry. Qualifications whether they are certificates, diplomas, degrees, or job experience all count as know-how and should be presented.
• Personality and Cultural Compatibility – Your potential employer or boss would definitely evaluate your personality on the job. How do you manage with other types of personalities? How would the company’s customers or clients react to you? Evidence of your coping skills with different personalities would affect the decision of your potential employer or superior.
• Management Style and Interpersonal Skills – How you manage other people, how you motivate others, convince others, and align people’s interests with those of the organization so that individuals can devote themselves and make even sacrifices for the greater good – this is the core of your management and interpersonal skills. It is beneficial for you to evaluate yourself if you fit in with the organization’s management systems.
• Blame Handling – Employers take special note of how you handle blame. Be careful not to speak ill of your previous boss or employer. The interviewer would then think “She will speak of me like this some day”!
• Interpersonal Skills – How you manage with other people from outside your immediate circle at work and make contacts, do you have hobbies, how you can convince others to help and to trust you – these are socialising skills that help you adapt to your social environment. If you cannot adapt successfully to your social environment, chances are that high that you will not succeed professionally.
• Faith - The last but not the least quality is faith, faith in yourself, and faith in your values. Optimism is very contagious and if you are optimistic (in a balanced manner though), you stand a much better chance of being employed or getting the promotion.

Every middle and low income workers now work two jobs just to maintain their house hold. America is presently undergoing mass changes that are affecting our prosperity, character and livelihood. The out-sourcing of American skilled labor has left scores of people to choose professions that are little to none-post modern day slavery.

During the past fifteen years our government has sold its most precious commodity-the pride of American Manufacturing and products made in the USA. The partnerships that have been established with over-sea trade favors are crippling the US work force, we have become a nation depended on low paying gobs, jobs that carry no true value or meaning.

There was a time when American workers took pride in their jobs, once many blue collar factory worker jobs were the most sought after and valued in this country. At present the soul of our country is becoming a tapestry of pressure to perform among the elite-but without the standard values of ethics that make up our pride to be the best-and achieve the best.

The United States Government has out-sourced contracts to China and other countries that have not truthfully acknowledged their profits made from government contracts handed out so freely. This out-sourcing has tarnished and diminished our American image, an empire diminishing to cheap labor.

There is no pity in losing faith in American culture; many working class citizens cannot even afford health insurance, life insurance, and the necessary components that keep our working nation afloat.

The auspices that we once generously shared have changed the frail and temperamental work environment. Our present society is teetering on the edge of economic crisis. Americans have more debt than ever before-and the situation does not seem to be getting any better anytime soon.

There is no support to justify this mockery why our great country cannot provide health care for all US citizens. Our nation of people is painfully subjected to sub-par standards of living in the 21st century; the present catacombs of our society living standards are crumbling before our very eyes and American heart.

We are sustained by our labor and efforts to make this country better by fair trade and equal rights for all. Prosperity is breed in the arms of honest and decent provocation held under our constitutional rights for all American citizens. And by means of these responsibilities our government is not living up to the obligation that all of our forefathers visions became what is the free-will of every man, woman and child.

The law of the land constitutes that every residing citizen of the United States must pay their taxes; this is legal law-if we deviate from this law, we will undoubtedly compromise our freedom which we come to know as precious. Then why cannot a legal mandate be proposed that would provide free health for every US citizen?

This is not a pipe dream-free and assessable health care can become a reality tomorrow if our government passed a bill through the US Senate. The funds could be appropriated through the Federal Government, where billions of dollars are being wasted away by free trade and US corporate tax shelters for the rich.

There should be no compromise for poverty in The United States of America-our status quo says so, should we bow to conformity and the charming lies that our government consistently feeds our better intellect?

The social services throughout the Southern regions are poor and outdated, overdue reform is needed to invigorate a sluggish and infectious problem that needs immediate correction.

The concern of our government should be for the people, there is a continuous re-education that many US citizens have gone through to obtain new ways seeking employment and health care. This transformation has brought about many of our vulnerabilities needed to ascertain our present circumstances as frail-at best.

Many working class families live under constant poverty and suppression, corporate greed has exhaled the spirit of many working class people throughout our nation. Illegal immigrant issues have angered many Americans-feeling left abandoned when they are in need of social services when an urgent situation or lack of work comes about.

There is no resolve about poverty and Social Services across America-the dramatization of our government has made the educated person to indulge in the truth of our depressed nation. American people are not foolish-nor oblivious to what is happening to our economy, and are very concerned with the lack of effort to correct these pressing issues.

We may possibly need to modify our present Government standards, maybe the working class should march to Washington DC to bolster and voice all of our unsolved rights. Our predecessors were not afraid or intimidated by our government; everything that was done was inspired by unconscious courage that displayed a rare mix of bravery and honor.

The demographics of poverty and despair are wide felt throughout the nation.

As a nation-we should defy anything that subjects us to conformity, never should we get complacent in your living arrangement-our rights are indelible. There are certain rights we need to stand and battle for, many US citizens are wary of our government policies at hand-traces of our past history politics have subjected us to falsehood and ecological inequality.

In closing-Angrily we face the sun, our heartbeats are unclothed-raging upon the successive predator-we need not defy the day of becoming, our citizenship bears the burden of our actions and defiance in the face of diversity.