How to Improve Employee Work Ethic?| BrightHR

First published on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Last updated on Thursday, April 10, 2025

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What factors demonstrate a strong work ethic?
How to improve work ethic
Organization work ethic
Boost employee work ethic and performance

What is a strong work ethic? Well, while it can manifest itself differently in various industries, a strong work ethic can be characterized in an employee as someone who is hard working, diligent, productive and pragmatic. These employees will engage well with your organization and be a real asset.

So, how can you go about ensuring your team members approach their tasks in the right frame of mind and how can you go one step further and improve your current standards?

In this article, we’ll explain the best approaches you can take to ensure you enjoy some genuine results.

What factors demonstrate a strong work ethic?

Okay, why is work ethic important? Well, as an employer, you’re on the lookout for staff members who get the job done.

If an employee has a productive approach to their role, they’ll often require far less management over projects. You might also hand them major tasks to complete. Or pick them for in-house promotions.

And what is good work ethic? You can expect certain traits from these employees. These include:

Professionalism

From following a dress code to always arriving on time, professionalism is essential to a business environment.

Productivity

With excellent organizational skills and the ability to complete work within a schedule, productivity shows that an employee fully commits to their work.

Teamwork

A big part of working in a business is collaborating with colleagues. If employees get on well with your other staff members, they’re likely to have a solid work ethic. It’s not a given, but it’s a good sign if an employee is a team player and demonstrates strong teamwork.

Determination

Whether it’s a task or issue that needs resolving, an employee will show initiative and skill to see out the task to the end.

High-quality work

All the above, and natural talent, add together to deliver high standards of work for your business.

How to improve work ethic

If you want to build on your current business outlook, or improve disappointing current standards, how do you go about it?

If your employees aren’t giving 100%, are making small errors that add up, or lack efficiency, then you suffer as a business.

However, there isn’t an overnight fix. Improving employee work ethic depends on the outlook of your business. You also need to consider what a strong work ethic means for your employees. Because if you’re willing to support your staff correctly, then the rewards are there for the taking.

You benefit from staff putting in more effort to engage with your business. And employees benefit from learning new skills, taking interest in their role, and enjoying contributing to your business.

A process of development helps to encourage your staff members. Some of the techniques you can use are as follows:

Set an example

Your managers provide authority at work. Make sure they know you expect high standards from them and how their influence reaches your employees. Skilled managers can help staff members grow personally and professionally, so utilize these managers to their full potential.

Set milestones

Rather than handing over seemingly vast projects, break them down into manageable tasks. If there are clear targets for employees to reach, rather than impossible sounding workloads, they’re likely to be far more committed to their work.

Have a recognition system

“Employee of the Month” is a bit old hat these days, but perks or bonuses for reaching KPIs is a strong way to encourage your staff to keep on refining their performance. And implementing an employee recognition platform can help with that.

Offer training

If you provide on-the-job training or professional development courses for your staff, this can increase their confidence and skill set. The result? More productive employees fresh from their empowering training.

Refine your recruitment strategy

You can evaluate your hiring pools for problematic job candidates to ensure you don’t hire employees with poor work ethic. Securing job references from former employers is one option—this will help you understand more about their approach with day-to-day work.

You can also ensure that your interview process is well geared toward evaluating every candidate for their work ethic and attitude toward work, whether you ask direct questions or evaluate them as you go.

Organization work ethic

As a business, you can also seek to set the standard for your employees. Not just with your managers, but higher management as well, all the way to the CEO.

You can do this in various ways. Measuring your ethics against other businesses is a good start. Look to a business you admire and the standards it sets—cherry pick the elements you want to see in your business, adapt them, and put them into practice.

It’s difficult to judge yourself against others. You need bravery to take an honest look at your infrastructure. But if you’re able to find flows, or better processes, then they’re well worth pursuing for the greater good.