Work Ethic In The Workplace

Work ethic is a standard of conduct and values for job performance. The following are some good characteristics of work ethic that employers may look at; attendance, productivity, character, teamwork, organizational skills, communication, appearance, attitude, and respect. A person’s work ethic can also affect their ethics in public safety, of how they treat the public, and if they can be held liable in lawsuits for negligence and misconduct. This paper will address a few of these issues to gain a greater understanding of how they affect a person’s work ethic and pose as either potential roadblocks or serve as key components to getting hired by an employer. In the fire service and within all of public safety this can be a vital issue when …show more content…
Teamwork is a critical part of work ethic in the fire service. If fire personnel cannot work in teams then it can make for very hazardous situations on incident scenes. Teamwork makes the operations on incident scenes safer in regards to that task so it can be carried out more efficiently. Appearance is another aspect of the fire service that is viewed by the public on a daily basis. If firefighters arrive on an incident and they are poorly dressed and do not present themselves as if they care for the way they look then the public may think that they may not take all of the necessary steps to help them in their time of need. A firefighter’s appearance also reflects the department’s work ethic. Attitude is also an aspect that is seen by the public on a day-to-day basis; positive attitudes reflect that you care about patients and that you care for their well-being. If a firefighter are always in a negative attitude or mood about emergency situations this could show the patients or victims that they do not really care about their emergency. Work ethic can affect the public’s perception in various ways and it helps to have a good work ethic not only for an employer but so the community is reassured that they are …show more content…
In 2002, two New York State firefighters lost their lives while fighting a house fire after the floor collapsed. The widow of one of the firefighters brought a lawsuit against the county and subsequently the officers and departments involved in that emergency call. It was found that the incident command officers were found liable due to negligence. The incident command stated the fire was almost under control and no further water was needed. There were problems with the pump of the apparatus on scene and the firefighters inside did not have water to extinguish the fire. The officers possibly would not have been charged but they made the call to put firefighters inside with no idea what was really going on at the scene, without backup firefighters, and also turned down extra water to the scene because they stated the fire was already under control. Not only does this show negligence but it also shows bad ethics and work ethics on the part of the incident commanders. They were supposed to know everything going on at the scene so that they could make decisions to mitigate that emergency (Naum,