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WORK
WORK IS THE WAY you produce the things you need to survive and live a comfortable and full life. First and foremost, what matters in work is that you produce the highest quality outcomes (known as effectiveness), and secondly that you do so using the least resources (known as efficiency). The highest quality outcomes or effectiveness is important because the quality of the outputs you make equals the quality of the inputs you consume. So if the food you cook for yourself is unclean and low in nutrition, you are likely to fall sick and become malnourished. Completing your work using the least resources or efficiency is important because this saves resources which you can use to produce more and different outputs which in turn makes your life more comfortable and full. If the meal you cook for yourself is clean and nutritious, but it takes you all day and all your energy to cook it, you will neither have the time nor the energy to do much else. In other words, when you are not effective and efficient in your work, your life is threatened, your life is uncomfortable and your life is unfulfilled.
Paid employment, your job, is a type of work. Hence, if you are not effective and efficient at your job—your life is threatened, your life is uncomfortable and your life is unfulfilled. It is just that in paid employment, in your job, you do not directly consume what you produce. Yet, you exchange the money you earn for performing your job for the things you need, which are of course what your fellow citizens produce in their paid employment, their jobs. And your fellow citizens exchange the money they earn for the things they need, which of course you have produced in your job. It is an indirect process but the result is the same: If you are not effective and efficient at your job—your life is threatened, your life is uncomfortable and your life is unfulfilled. Having a strong commitment to quality and efficiency in each and every job situation and task, no matter whether or not you can see a direct link between your outputs and your personal returns, is known as having a work ethic.
A work ethic is an internal drive. It is not about working hard only where such hard work is drawn, tricked or forced out of you by an external force. It is not about rewards or punishments, how hard others are working or not working, or adjusting your efforts based on the conveniences or inconveniences of your job. It is about you taking pride. Taking pride in having put forth your very best effort in each and every job situation and task—no matter what. Taking pride in the quality of the goods and services you produce and the efficiency with which you produce them.
When you have a work ethic, when you take pride in your work, you will find that it contributes to your fulfilment as a human being. You will find yourself no longer constantly dissatisfied with your pile of pennies no matter how big it happens to be. You will find yourself no longer constantly comparing your pile of pennies with those of colleagues and fellow citizens. You will find yourself no longer constantly resorting to ever more shameful and ultimately self-defeating ways to do the least and get the most pennies.
If effective and efficient work is what ensures your survival, your comfort and your fulfilment. And if most work nowadays is in the form of paid employment. And if to be effective and efficient at your paid employment you need to have a strong work ethic. And if working driven by a strong work ethic is in itself fulfilling. Then you must develop a work ethic.
“MIND WORK HOURS”
- BE PUNCTUAL. Use the rules and guidelines discussed in BEHAVE/“Punctuality” to ensure that you arrive at the appointed time to work.
- BE PREPARED TO COME EARLY AND STAY LATE. When called upon to work beyond your regular hours, consider this a natural part of your work. Perform in these extra hours with the same enthusiasm you would in your regular hours.
“KEEP YOUR FOCUS”
- AT WORK, ONLY WORK. When you are at work, do not engage in any other activities besides your given duties and tasks. Make an exception to this rule only where such activities clearly and significantly contribute to the execution of your primary duties and tasks. Do not engage in any of the following at work:
- Any personal activity or errand.
- Idle chat with workmates not related to work.
- Sending personal emails.
- Non-work related internet surfing.
- Social media activity.
- Receiving or taking personal phone calls (or texting) except in emergencies.
- Bringing your children to work except where it is clearly allowed.
- LIMIT PERSONAL ACTIVITIES TO BREAKS. In allotted breaks such as lunch and tea breaks you may engage in personal activities. Do so in such a manner that you are ready and able to resume work as soon as the break period ends. For instance, do not go for lunch at a restaurant so far away and/or so busy that you will not be able to return to work on time.
- WHEN THERE IS NO WORK, FIND WORK. During lulls or while you are waiting on workmates’, suppliers’ or customers’ inputs to start your own work—do not idle. Find some preparatory, maintenance or improvement work to do. For instance, reorganise your files or clean up the storeroom.
“PERFORM OPTIMALLY”
- ALWAYS GIVE YOUR VERY BEST EFFORT. Despite the personal issues, the dips in your energy level and the various distractions and obstacles you will inevitably face from time to time, at the beginning of each workday determine your mind to devote your very best effort to your work. To properly prepare yourself for optimum performance make sure you do the following:
- Do not, out of tradition, wake up too early. Instead, wake up allowing only the time required to punctually make it to work.
- Do not eat a heavy lunch instead eat a hearty breakfast.
- Contemplate your day’s work on your commute to work.
- DELIVER HIGHEST QUALITY. Ensure that everything you produce whether good or service, meets and potentially exceeds the highest expectations of quality of your organisation/employer and your customers. This applies no matter how small the task or how insignificant your input seems to the quality of the final product.
- DELIVER THE BEST WITH LESS. Deliver this highest quality whilst using the least organisational resources possible. So long as quality is not compromised, consider every saving, no matter how small, to be significant.
- CONSTANTLY SEEK TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY. No matter how high a level of quality you have delivered and how little resources you have used to deliver it—never be satisfied. Continuously come up with ways to improve quality and increase efficiency, and share these ways with your workmates.
- CONSTANTLY SEEK TO IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS. Allocate some of your own time and some of the spare time that may crop up at work to learn new work-related skills and hone existing ones.
- USE TOOLS. For the sake of convenience or out of habit do not try to perform your work avoiding modern tools. Learn and then master the use of modern tools. To master a tool or device, carefully read its instruction manual. Use these modern tools to increase the quality and efficiency of your work.
“EMBODY ORGANSATIONAL CITIZENSHIP”
- REGARD YOURSELF A CITIZEN OF YOUR ORGANISATION. Behave toward your organisation using all the applicable rules and guidelines you learn from this book. Start off by representing your organisation in a positive light to those outside it.
- AVOID ALL FORMS OF CORRUPTION. Thoroughly re-read BEHAVE/“No Corruption”. Keep these rules and guidelines at the forefront of your mind whilst you perform your duties for your organisation.
- HELP YOUR WORKMATES. Strive to help your workmates in all the following areas and in any other way which both benefits them and your organisation:
- Help them gain the particular knowledge and skills required to function in your organisation.
- Help them resolve the work-related problems they may face.
- Empathise with them when they face non-work related problems.
- Never gossip or talk behind their backs. This includes criticising their work performance with other workmates.
- Work with them to start and run employee welfare societies and social clubs that enrich the lives of organisational members.
- Work with them to create a work environment that is neat, clean and pleasant.
- DRESS APPROPRIATELY. If your organisation has a dress code, follow it precisely. Always ensure that your clothes are clean and neatly ironed. If your organisation does not have a dress code, err on the side of dressing formally as opposed to casually.
- TAKE PRIDE. When you can honestly tell yourself that, driven by your work ethic, you faithfully follow all the above rules and guidelines, you have exhibited the virtue of professionalism. Take pride in yourself, and value professionalism in your fellow citizens.
