1.3: Employer Expectations

Your employer pays you to do a job. The job involves performing the work you have been hired to do, whether it is cleaning, serving food, baking bread, or cooking on the line for a customer. Your employer expects you to act professionally and exhibit certain behaviours. Your job depends on your ability to assist your employer to make money. If the business loses money, your job may disappear. At the top of their list of expectations, most employers would include commitment, enthusiasm, dependability, honesty, and a willingness to learn and accept feedback. Table 1 details what is meant by these characteristics, which together would be considered professionalism.

Table 1. Employer expectations

Expectation	Do’s	Don’ts
Commitment	Try to make the business look good Work hard for the organization Do your best Dress appropriately	Criticize the organization to outsiders Be mostly concerned about what the organization can do for you
Enthusiasm	Be interested in your work Share your ideas Be cheerful Give others help	Do only enough to get by Do not care about the quality of the work Be uncooperative Complain about your job
Dependability	Arrive at work on time Finish assigned work on schedule Call when you miss work due to illness Fulfill commitments Use sick days only for legitimate illness or injury	Arrive at work late Do not finish assigned work Miss work without notifying the employer Be absent from work often Make excuses Do not follow through on commitments
Honesty	Admit your mistakes Express your opinions	Take tools or materials for your own use Try to get away with as much as you can
Willingness to Learn	Listen carefully to instructions Ask questions when you do not understand Try new things Learn from your own mistakes	Ignore instructions Dislike taking advice
Accept Feedback	Be open to suggestions made by others Use constructive criticism to improve the quality of work Learn from suggestions	Get angry or sulk when criticized Reject suggestions Be unreceptive to learning new things Tend to repeat mistakes

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