Becoming a great employee: top 10 characteristics

Everyone in the workplace agrees that truly great employees are rarer than the proverbial chicken teeth. It doesn’t matter if you are an employee yourself or a manager wondering how to really find a great employee for a position, you know that great employees are a rare commodity.

What exactly makes an employee great? These top ten traits provide some ideas for employers looking to hire and, of course, employees who want to operate at the top of their game:

1. Reliability – Great employees are always dependable. They do the work they are supposed to do every time, and no one has to worry that they won’t deliver the products. You can tell that a great employee always does his job well, when he is supposed to; it’s a lost conclusion that it will, and no one else has to spend time worrying about it.
2. Team Spirit: Great employees are team players. They do not constantly seek attention or monopolize attention. Rather, a great employee works with others to make sure that the things that need to be done get done, for the good of the company.
3. Take Direction – Great employees know how to take direction. They know how to take criticism, direction, and advice gracefully and make it work for them when they do their jobs.
4. Trust – Great employees don’t spread office gossip and don’t mess up the company. Likewise, they always tell the truth to their employer, even if it gets them into trouble.
5. Confidentiality – This, of course, is strongly tied to the number 4. Great employees always protect the confidential nature of their business dealings and protect everyone’s privacy.
6. Participation: Large Employees participate in the day-to-day running of the office. They don’t walk out of meetings or skip office birthday celebrations. These things may not be a fun part of work life, and everyone involved knows that everyone else has a place they’d rather be, but a great employee wouldn’t be anywhere else.
7. Sympathy: a good employee gets along well with other employees. Every office has a person who is in the affairs of others and speaks out loud on the phone and generally shakes things up and puts himself in everyone’s shoes. This type of employee destroys office morale – a great employee is a good coworker for everyone.
8. Competition: Great employees have good job skills. It may seem obvious, but a great employee has the skills to get the job done and is constantly looking for ways to improve, such as going to training seminars or seeking higher education. Great workers have great skills.
9. Tact: Great employees have tact and decorum. If there is a problem in the office, a great employee does not make a scene in front of everyone else. A great employee will deal with these issues with privacy and diplomacy. Also, a great employee does not tell tacky political or religious jokes, or send emails that feature these kinds of jokes.
10. Attitude: Last but not least, great employees have a great attitude. Bad attitudes bring everyone down. A great employee helps make work great for everyone else by having a good spirit about their work.

Those are a lot of good traits to try to acquire! Don’t be discouraged if you can’t match on a number (but hopefully not all!) Of them. Just work on them one at a time and you will find your career progressing faster than you ever thought possible.