How to Showcase Strong Work Ethic
How to Showcase Strong Work Ethic
While work ethic can be defined in many ways, it is a concept that involves having
various workplace skills including dedication and responsibility. Doing your job with a
strong work ethic can help you perform tasks better, form stronger relationships with
colleagues and develop a positive image for future promotions.
In this article, we will take a closer look at what work ethic is, why it’s important and how
you can improve and demonstrate it at work.
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All of these factors can lead to better chances at a raise or promotion and
accomplishing major long and short-term career goals. Displaying a strong work ethic
can result in you being seen as a highly valuable team member, which can lead to
beneficial advances in your career like a raise,
promotion or management position.
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Discipline: Having discipline means you are able to focus and complete tasks no
matter the circumstances. Managing your time well is a key component of
practicing discipline.
Time management: Managing your time well can help you meet deadlines, set
appointments or meetings and communicate proper expectations about your
schedule. It is also important to be punctual at work both when you arrive and
when you have meetings.
Take notice of how you spend your time. During a workweek, pay close
attention to what takes up your time. You might notice that you tend to get on
social media sites in the afternoon, for example. While sometimes taking a short
break can be helpful and lead to more productivity, you should be mindful of being
distracted for long periods of time.
Stay organized. Take some time to organize your notes, email inbox, desk and
any other workspaces. This can help keep you focus and create a simple, more
relaxing workday. It can also contribute to better time management skills.
Practice balance. To have and maintain a strong work ethic, it is important that
you take breaks and have a healthy work/life balance. Working until you are
burned out can decrease productivity and effectively reduce your work ethic. Take
regular time off and schedule breaks throughout your workday.
Manage your time wisely. Being on time and completing tasks by (or preferably
before) due dates is an easy and obvious way to show work ethic. It also sets you
up for success. You will be less likely to make mistakes due to rushing and you
can be more present and active during meetings when you do not feel
exasperated from hurrying.
Make it a point to be at work when it is expected of you. For example, if you are
expected to be at work from 9 am to 5 pm, you should be available during these times.
If you are not able to be working during this time, let your manager know as early as
possible with an acceptable excuse, such as a doctor’s appointment or a family
emergency.
It's also worth noting that the marginal benefit tends to decrease as more goods or
services are consumed. This is because the want to purchase an additional unit
decreases the more a consumer already has of that product.
A marginal benefit can also be referred to as a marginal revenue. In business terms, the
more additional units a buyer sells of a good or service, the less revenue they're
bringing in. This is because they'll need to keep lowering the price of each good or
service to sell it as an extra unit.
For example: Let's say a pair of pants is being sold for $50. However, you're willing to
pay $60 for the pair. The marginal benefit in this instance is $60 because that's the
most you're willing to pay for that pair of pants. This means the marginal benefit is $10
higher than the actual selling price.
It's also important to understand how a change in quantity affects the marginal benefit.
For the most part, marginal benefit decreases as additional products are consumed and
vice versa. This is because you become less interested in owning a product the more
you already have of it. In contrast, the less you have of a product, the more attracted
you are to purchasing it.
Using the example above, this means you, the consumer, might want to only pay $50
for the second pair of pants and $40 for the third pair of pants. Therefore, the marginal
benefit falls the more you purchase pants. The $50 for the second pair is the marginal
benefit whereas the $40 for the second pair is that instance's marginal benefit. This is
because that's the most you are willing to pay for additional pairs of pants. If the buyer
were to keep the price of the pants constant at $50, this means only two pairs of pants
would be sold to you because the marginal benefit of the third pair was less than the
asking price.
Related: Your Guide To Careers in Finance
If a business owner decides to lower the cost for the second or third pair of pants as
illustrated above, this could entice you to purchase more pairs of pants because they
are on sale. So long as the business owner's price reduction outweighs the marginal
cost of making more pants, the better off it'll be for their business. In addition, the pant's
price reduction is of benefit to you, as well, because this results in less that you'll have
to pay for an additional good or service. This scenario has the potential to be mutually
beneficial for both parties involved.
Similarly, if a business owner recognizes that you're becoming less interested in paying
the selling price for a product or service, they could decide to lower the price of said
product or service. In other words, the product or service would go on sale. This
happens to sell more products at the end of the day because a sale could entice you to
make an additional purchase. The price of any good or service has the potential to be
lowered the minute a business owner notices that consumers are willing to pay less for
more of that good or service.
On the contrary, if you were to release more laptops in the future, the value of the
product would diminish. This is because more laptops are readily available to the public.
Generally speaking, consumers like to know they have one of the select few products
available in the country rather than be part of a large majority.
Leadership: If you see yourself leading a team one day, then you need to learn
how to be an effective leader. Knowing how to manage a team,
delegate work, take on responsibilities, communicate to company leaders, make
good judgments and find unique solutions can help you prove that you are fit to lead your
team.
Persuasion: Being a persuasive person can help you go far in your career. If you
are a salesperson, these skills can help you land a new client. If you are a
marketer, these skills can help you sell a concept. If you are interviewing for a job,
these skills can help you get a job offer. Being persuasive is all about learning to
build connections and provide value to others.
Understanding your short-term and long-term goals can help you figure out which goals
to focus on. Try to choose skills that can help you progress in your career. For instance,
if you want your employer to promote you to a management position,
you should work on improving your leadership skills. As you are setting goals, you can
research other people's journeys to master a certain skill. Consider breaking your
training up into sections, so your learning process is a bit more manageable. Once you
learn the basics of a skill, you can move onto more challenging goals.
Finding someone who can support you while you work on your skills can be a great
idea. This individual can help you come up with a plan for reaching your goals. They
can also hold you accountable as you progress. Choose a career coach or mentor who
is both uplifting and determined to see you succeed. While you need encouragement,
you also want someone who is going to push you to do better.
If you notice someone at work has a skill that you would like to work on, see if they
would be willing to meet with you. They can teach you the skill or help you find the
resources you need to get started. Even if they can't provide hands-on training, it's still
helpful to have someone you can go to for advice or answers to questions you might
have.
The key to reaching your goal is finding ways to stay motivated. Think of ways you can
keep yourself focused on improving your skills. For some people, creating a reward
system is helpful. For others, staying motivated means finding ways to make the
process more enjoyable. Getting to know the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation can help you create the ideal system for yourself.
There are countless online videos that can teach you whatever skills you are interested
in learning. General video platforms have plenty of free videos that you can watch to get
started. If you are interested in learning from an expert, look for websites that offer
tutorials from professionals or that cater to the field you're interested in.
6. Read blogs and manuals
If you are someone who can learn by reading, search the web for different blogs and
manuals that cover the skill you are interested in learning. Reading a series of articles
can help you learn a variety of tips and advice about your skill of choice. Try to read a
variety of published works so that you can get multiple opinions about the best way to
learn your skill. You may find that one person's advice works better than another's.
Related: 12 Top Job Skills for Any Industry: Transferable Skills You Need
See if your employer will send you to a conference or seminar to learn a particular skill.
Along with getting advice from industry experts, these kinds of events are great for
networking. Connecting with other professionals can help you build your network and
advance your career. You may even find that someone you meet has excellent tips for
developing your skills.
When you are ready to get serious about learning a skill, set aside some time for it
every day. Even if this is as little as 20 minutes, repeating the same tasks can help you
start to develop muscle or mental memory. Over a period of time, you may realize that
your skill becomes second nature. Think of the process as learning to ride a bike or
drive a car. With consistent practice, you barely have to think about doing these tasks.
Start with simpler tasks that you can eventually build upon. For instance, when learning
how to speak a language, you should start with learning basic conversation. As you get
to know conjugations and sentence structure better, you can begin to use more
advanced dialogue. Eventually, you can have fluent conversations with a native
speaker. When you start with a solid foundation, you can progress much more later on.
Going back to school is an excellent way to develop certain skills. If you're looking to
work full-time while attending school, see if your local community college has either
online or evening courses.
You can also enroll in shorter courses online if you aren't looking to earn a degree.
Some companies offer free and paid courses you can check out.
With the rise of online retail markets for nearly every industry, web development plays a
key part of a company's online success. How you show a product or service online to
encourage a customer to sign up or buy is important and often requires the use of A/B
testing. Knowing more about A/B testing can help you get the right combination of visual
presentation to use online. In this article, we explore what A/B testing is in marketing,
why it is important, the benefits of using it and look at industries that apply this
marketing method to grow success.
Here are digital elements you can conduct A/B testing on:
Colors Headlines
Test continuously
A/B testing often gives advantages over competitors, so companies of any size should
continuously run tests for marketing materials like websites, graphics, advertisements,
promotions, language and more.
Use A/B testing whenever you have a goal to achieve for your business. For example, if
a social media page is not generating enough customer engagement conversions to
actual sales, consider changing your content or the look of it, like images, font, icons
and call to action words. Creating new ways to influence a customer based on what
they like is key to conversion.
Keep it simple
Simplicity in advertising and marketing often resonate with consumers more. Smaller
amounts of text are easier to understand and get read in completion more than wordy
and distracting text. Soothing, neutral colors are more aesthetically pleasing as opposed
to loud and bright colors.
Make the most of your A/B testing efforts by using marketing materials that already
generate traffic and contribute to buyer leads and conversions. For example, a blog post
with 50% more readership than another is a better investment to encourage more views
than one with little readership. Consider starting with marketing elements like:
Website homepages
Product pages
Banner advertisements
Cart or basket landing pages
Social media posts
Because established companies and businesses already have a customer base, A/B
testing is more effective because of customer engagement and traffic. New businesses
can still benefit from A/B testing, though results may not offer the same level of
accuracy until they experience more growth of their customer base.
E-commerce sites
E-commerce websites and mobile applications rely on A/B testing to provide the best
customer experience possible, since a smooth purchase funnel is crucial to gaining
orders and profit. Companies test out where and how to display shipping costs,
showcase promotions, sales or free shipping,
the shopping cart and checkout page features, visibility and placement of product
reviews and the text font, size, color and placement throughout. Each change or
refinement made is to encourage the consumer to buy or shop again.
One item often in continuous A/B testing is the shopping cart feature, which nearly
every e-commerce site has and the shopping cart icon stays visible no matter which
page you're on. It serves as a reminder for products you've put in your cart but also
encourages you to:
Keep shopping
Explore daily deals
View items on your wish list
Purchase items in cart
Turn on the one-click payment feature
The one-click ordering button is commonplace for many well-known online retailers and
results from extensive A/B testing. It allows customers to make a purchase without
visiting their shopping cart entirely once they store default billing and shipping
information into their account. Because one-click ordering is easy, you're more likely to
buy instantly than to go comparison shopping elsewhere.
Travel industry
The travel industry uses A/B testing to increase bookings and ancillary revenue by
testing variations of layout, presentation, colors, progress bar and booking buttons.
From hotels, airlines, home rentals, tour companies and rental cars, the travel industry
runs A/B testing on all of their media platforms, including websites, mobile applications
and social media posts. For example, creating two versions of a landing page to see
which registration is easier to create a login for a home rental app can increase both the
number of hosts and the number of travelers looking for lodging and ultimately increase
revenue from both users.
Streaming service platforms use A/B testing to increase audience, subscriptions, video
views and social sharing, for example. The user experience and personalization
particularly benefits from A/B testing by using your watch history and preferences to
showcase certain titles in the category rows on the video streaming homepage.
Platforms can personalize what titles show for each category to encourage us to watch
and the top watched category features popular titles amongst all users.
Streaming services often test out these personalization pages and layout to determine
which is more user-friendly.
Work Ethic is a set of values based on hard
work and diligence. A work ethic may
include being reliable, having initi ati ve, or
pursuing new skills.
“Your ability to discipline yourself to set
clear goals, and then to work toward them
every day, will do more to guarantee your
success than any other single factor.” ~
Brian Tracy
“Success is a functi on of persistence and
doggedness and the willingness to work
hard for twenty-two minutes to make
sense of something that most people
would give up on aft er thirty seconds.” ~
Alan Schoenfeld
He who would learn to fl y one day must
fi rst learn to stand and walk and run and
climb and dance; one cannot fl y into
fl ying. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
5 Factors That Demonstrate a Strong Work
Ethic
1. Integrity - An employee with integrity
fosters trusti ng relati onships with clients,
coworkers and supervisors. Coworkers
value the employee's ability to give
honest feedback. Clients trust the
employee's advice. Supervisors rely on the
employee's high moral standards, trusti ng
him not to steal from the company or
create problems.
2. Sense of Responsibility – Feeling
personally responsible for job
performance, showing up on ti me, putti ng
in best effort.
3. Emphasis on Quality – caring about the
quality of work, not just churning out the
bare minimum
4. Discipline – completi ng
tasks/assignments, staying focused on
goals
5. Sense of Teamwork – respect peers, help
the team to meet its goals
(Jenkins, Amelia, and Demand Media. "5 Factors That
Demonstrate a Strong Work Ethic." Small Business. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.)
Appearance - Your demeanor and dress
should refl ect the professionalism it takes to
do your job and be neat, clean, and
appropriate for the workplace.
What is your workplace dress code? Class
dress code?
Self Confi dence – Show that you can handle
any situati on, even accepti ng tasks outside
your comfort zone. Confi dence enables you
to encourage others to adapt to changing
situati ons in the work environment. ( N o e , D . P. ,
“ T h e I m p o r t a n c e o f C o n fi d e n c e i n t h e Wo r k p l a c e ” )
Cultural Awareness – Includes overcoming
stereotypes and treati ng everyone the same.
How can you increase your cultural
knowledge?
Safety Awareness – Working safely and effi ciently,
using safety gear, etc. Conti nuing educati on and
workplace training will help maintain safety
standards
Appearance - Your demeanor and dress
should refl ect the professionalism it takes to
do your job and be neat, clean, and
appropriate for the workplace.
What is your workplace dress code? Class
dress code?
Self Confi dence – Show that you can handle
any situati on, even accepti ng tasks outside
your comfort zone. Confi dence enables you
to encourage others to adapt to changing
situati ons in the work environment. ( N o e , D . P. ,
“ T h e I m p o r t a n c e o f C o n fi d e n c e i n t h e Wo r k p l a c e ” )
Cultural Awareness – Includes overcoming
stereotypes and treati ng everyone the same.
How can you increase your cultural
knowledge?
Safety Awareness – Working safely and effi ciently,
using safety gear, etc. Conti nuing educati on and
workplace training will help maintain safety
standards
Individuals who fail to abide by
professional standards lose their jobs and
run the risk of losing professional and
personal integrity and credibility.
Students must assess personal and
professional standards now because the
ethics you have now will cross over into
your professional positi ons. Things like
lying, cheati ng, stealing (even small
things), etc. will cause you to lose your
job.
What are some Professional and Ethical
Standards in your workplace and industry