3 Workplace Traits That Pay Off In The Long Run

It is no secret that there are some common traits in valuable employees that managers and employers sift out. Putting aside education and experience, today's workforce forces us to concentrate on who exactly is working for the company. The personality of the employee becomes more important than their skills, as employees with key qualities will be able to lead, motivate and add value to the company as a whole.

Thus, it is not just important to invest in handy work skills, but also intangible attributes, or also known as “soft skills”. In order to elevate an individual’s worth to the companies and employers, here are some of the soft workplace traits that have become necessary to actively practice.

PATIENCE

Being patience without provocation will pay off, especially when displayed under the right conditions. It is a virtue that is linked to happiness and wisdom, as only with patience, can the other two be sustained and achieved. In order for success to happen, tasks and problems will have to be dealt with effectively and tolerantly, instead of rushing through them. Patience allows this as it encourages an individual to take time to consider the work, and complete them in a calm and logical manner. This is the difference between the employee who finishes fast, but badly, and one who finishes later, but correctly.

PERSEVERANCE

Another important trait is how determined the employee shows himself/herself to be when faced with challenges or tedious orders. Personal tenacity reveals how reliable and responsible the individual truly is, and gives the company a sense of the person’s overall staying power. Being fickle-minded rarely wins points. In order for upper management to consider assigning more duties or a higher position, first they have to be clear about the individual’s resolution to see the job through.

PROACTIVE

Having passion and enthusiasm for work is refreshing, especially if it benefits the company overall. Top employees show a dedicated nature towards their work, and this allows them to be extremely invested in the quality of their tasks. It means that they are not only happy to work, but also willing to go the extra mile to make sure the job is done right. It brings about job satisfaction and can boost the overall work morale, allowing them to be key candidates for leadership roles in the company.

The right time to hire.

The government in Singapore is always encouraging young entrepreneurs to establish a business on their own. With more of such entrepreneurs around, the chances of establishing a successful company is higher and this would also mean a reduction in unemployment rates.

It is all good for the society, but it is a stressful situation for the entrepreneurs themselves.  It is always a stressful situation and as entrepreneurs, we have to make calculated risk and proceed with caution. We are not just looking at fixed cost, such as salary and benefits – but many sources of overhead as well such as training and development costs. This is based on the assumption that the employee is performing as the figures will only get worse if the employee is not performing – where all the training and development cost dedicated to the employee not just become a sunk cost, but businesses have to think of severance pay (and sometimes litigation), but also the time and effort dedicated to finding a replacement. Time always means money.

What is the required skillset?

What is the position you need to fill, depends on the skillset of the founders, as well as the industry of the new business. These are the questions you have to ask yourself:

• Are you lacking in a skillset
• Is the lack of skillset preventing the business from going further
• Must the skillset be hired or should it just be outsourced

With all these information, you have to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each. Services that are outsourced do not need to be managed – in comparison to bringing an employee onboard. Apart from the main difference in the budget, services that are outsourced are guaranteed results, whereas the results of the employee you bring in might vary. You will also think about the knowledge set whereby do the market have sufficient knowledge of the product or industry you are dealing in, and how confidential is your knowledge? The more confidential it is, the more you will want to do it by yourself. If the vendors have more expertise, knowledge and experience, you should consider outsourcing the service to them. Of course, at this time, you should also be thinking the frequency whereby this service is required. One such consideration would be the number of times you have to rebrand your company’s logo and website.

Who is the right candidate to bring onboard?

If you have decided to hire, the next step would be to think of who should you hire. These are some of the following questions you can think of

• Have the incumbent worked in smaller companies before?
• How aligned are the goals to the company with the incumbent?
• Is the candidate an individual contribution, or someone who requires hand-holding

Based on our experiences, companies prefer credentials – be it experience, or educational qualifications. However, companies should always be evaluating on the staying power of such candidates as well as on whether the incumbent will be a good fit with the company’s culture. Employees who have been used to working in big companies could have been used to a structured environment, with dedicated routine tasks whereas in a small organization setting – incumbents could likely be told to assist in practically anything and everything.

However, we have come across candidates who prefer a less bureaucratic environment because it would also mean less politics. With lesser competition, it could mean room for career progression.  We are also surprised when some candidates share that they would like to take up on the role because they are able to learn more.

Conclusion

Ultimately – You have to do your own self-assessment of the candidate. One of the ways you could use your assessment is by getting your existing employees who are well versed with your culture to recommend someone else into the company. Those who are doing the recommendation will be assessing the suitability of the new entrant as well. Or you could widen your pool of potential candidates with us, and we could do the assessment for you – with a fee of course.

Of course, we would prefer the latter.