Want to be an ideal employee and know the things your employers want from you? There are numerous things every employee can do to make their supervisor’s lives easier, and affect organizational outcomes. Employers may vary with regard to culture, organizational structure, and headcount, but there are a handful of transferrable attributes that all employers want to see in their employees – be they high-performers or not.
Want to distinguish yourself in your workplace? Here are the 5 things all employers want from you.
1) An employee who will listen and apply
A lot of advice, best practices, and wisdom gets shared on a daily basis within the walls of all organizations. Employers want to have employees that listen to suggestions or feedback, onboard the data, and apply the lessons to make their performance better. After all, management and executive teams not only want the company to succeed across various key performance indicators (KPI), but they also want employees to succeed professionally too.
2) An employee who is reliable and dependable
While these traits may seem like basic human conditions, it is still surprising the number of employees that struggle to be reliable and dependable within the workplace. Dependability, though, does not mean being at work on time (though that is incredibly important), but being the kind of employee that can be tasked with responsibilities or duties with the certainty that, time and time again, those tasks will be performed and executed at a high level.
3) An employee who is a realist
Nobody likes to be around the consistently pessimistic person and the overly optimistic person will lead you to make business decisions on data that is not real. The same goes for the workplace. Employers value employees who can clearly see the current state of affairs, and forecast a realistic perspective on how to improve things, fix the issues they currently face, and troubleshoot as required. A realistic view on business operations, team members, and performance are huge value-adds to any employer.
4) An employee who is professional
Professionalism, at its most basic, means understanding the context with which actions and conversations are being conducted in the workplace. If two colleagues are in serious conversation over strategy, professionalism dictates that you do not jump in with a joke. Additionally, professionalism extends to all aspects of an individual’s appearance and presence within a workspace. Employers value employees who embody the corporate culture, act appropriately throughout the day, and are helpful to their team members.
5) An employee who can anticipate needs and act
One of the best ways to distinguish yourself within your workplace as an individual that your employer should care for and look after is to anticipate the needs of your supervisors and team members, and have the courage to act before called upon. The ability to see opportunities for proactivity, to make your supervisor’s life easier, and encourage positive business outcomes before being asked to do so is a massive trait of individuals whom employers desire.