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• Shows up every day.
For most of us, this probably seems like one of those no brainers. For virtually all employers, though, it is far from a no brainer. I don’t know what the percent is, but experience tells me that it is about half and half. About half of employees show up every day unless they are truly ill or have a real emergency that prevents their being at work. The other half includes people who vary from those who make up an occasional excuse not to show up to those who use every excuse or justification they can conjure up. The worst of this group are those employees who don’t come to work because they just don’t feel like coming today.
Again, the conclusion is easy. Employers looking for the perfect employee stick with the group who responsibly come to work every day, in the absence of a legitimate reason not to be there. If you aspire to be the perfect employee, show up when you are expected, every time, on time, with none but legitimate reasons for being absent or late, no exceptions, no excuses. That is a major part of what employers mean when they talk about dependable employees.
• Is present all day.
This is obvious to most employees and employers but is a real brain twister for employees who just don’t get it. I think this is because there are only a few ways to be present and so many ways to be at work but not actually present.
Being present means that the employee is thinking about work and work-related activities, is paying attention to their work and to what is going on at work and is fully engaged with their work activities and responsibilities.
Not being present while being at work means thinking, doing and attending to anything other than work activities and responsibilities. The employee may be day dreaming, surfing the net, doing personal things on his or her cell phone, gossiping or socializing with other employees, taking care of personal business, spending way too much time in the restroom, taking way too long to complete work activities, or anything else that uses work time to do something other than work-related things.
Let me first be clear that no one can be present at work 100% of his or her work time. The reality is that an employee who is present over 90% of his or her work time is definitely up there in the perfect employee range. Having made that point, the conclusion is not complicated, but actually being present at work all day requires both commitment and personal discipline. If the employee doesn’t take personal responsibility to always be present, he or she will easily develop bad habits and make poor personal choices. The pull on one’s attention from non-work activities and interests can be quite strong. It’s easy to be or become a slacker. For employers and those aspiring to be perfect employees, slackers and those who are not fully present are out of the running.
• Is friendly and personable.
This is a two-parter. Being friendly comes first. Friendly is easily misunderstood. Some employees are more outgoing and others less. Some like to socialize and others are less inclined to just stop and chat. For some employees, being interrupted or distracted is not a big deal. They easily resume what they were doing or have little difficulty getting back on task. For others, staying on task or recovering from an interruption is quite difficult. None of this has much to do with being friendly. A friendly employee acknowledges others, does not avoid interacting with others, and interacts with others in a fairly open and easy way. They are comfortable with themselves and with spending time with other people.
The second part of being friendly and personable is key. Employees who are personable have a pleasant and approachable appearance and manner about them. They show a social green light most of the time. They don’t ignore others and aren’t someone who shows a social red light or even a yellow light very often. They are friendly and personable.
The conclusion here is usually fairly simple. Employers and those who aspire to be a perfect employee tend to favor employees who are friendly and personable. The important element is staying within one’s comfort zone. The key is to avoid overdoing the social part of friendly, while also avoiding any tendency to withdraw or avoid interactions with other people. There is a friendly sweet spot, and perfect employees find it and mostly stay in that sweet spot. They do this while assuring that their appearance and manner are consistent with being in the sweet spot.