ALT-2 Being a Dedicated Employee on the Job
What does it mean to be a dedicated employee? Well, there are many ways one can be dedicated. Dedication can mean always showing up on time, working late when necessary, and resisting the temptation of calling in sick every time you have a sniffle or a runny nose. Dedication is also enjoying your job and behaving in a professional manner. You can arrive early and stay late every single day, but if you spend your working hours looking as though you'd rather be anywhere else than work, you are not being a dedicated employee. Dedicated employees are people who love what they do, and even if they are having a bad day, they still go about their work with a smile on their face.
Dedicated employees are often shining reflections of their employer, upholding the core values and beliefs of the company. They adhere to company policy and follow the rules. Upstarts and mavericks are not dedicated employees; an employer places a higher value on reliability than on someone who may prove to be unpredictable. This is not to say that dedicated employees cannot occasionally voice their opinions, however. The difference is that a dedicated employee will find the proper forum to do so, rather than trying to turn a company on it's ear. Dedicated employees are active participants in company meetings, but they are not disruptive, inconsiderate, or pushy.
Stability is the defining trait of a dedicated employee. These are not the people who peruse the classified ads on their lunch breaks looking for a better-paying job with a different company. They are willing to stick around during the bad times as well as the good, they will not abandon ship or seek greener grass on a different side of the fence. They realize that they have a job to do, and they go about it faithfully because they honestly want to see their company succeed. They have pride, and want to be part of a team. Dedicated employees are not the workers who are always trying to find a way to cheat in order to get ahead. They don't break the rules, and they don't bend the rules. The play by the rules.
It is not easy to be a dedicated employee. We hear of a better offer and we are eager to take it, thinking that it is a shortcut to success. But as your parents and teachers have told you, there are no shortcuts to success. The benefits of job-jumping are short-lived when compared to the long-term success and sense of pride one attains through being a truly dedicated employee.
