Integrity means being honest and doing the right thing in all circumstances — even if no one is watching. A person who has integrity will always be honest, gracious, respectful, hardworking, and responsible. Integrity requires strong moral principles in all aspects of life.
Integrity in the workplace means expressing moral values in all the efforts to support a company and its defined set of moral standards. This will create a positive work environment of happy employers and employees. Integrity in the workplace helps in long-term success and growth. Checking and reviewing the outline, plans, and policies before starting a specific project or being accountable for your shortcomings are the two common examples of showing integrity at work.
A person who shows integrity in the workplace mostly has the following qualities:
- Reliable and trustworthy and people can easily depend on him.
- Open communication with colleagues and management.
- Respectful, honest, and patient with all the members of the company.
- Works very hard and consistently to produce high-quality work.
- Responsible for his actions, especially if he has made a mistake.
- Takes good decisions, even during the most difficult situations.
- Acknowledges his shortcomings and works to improve himself.
- Provides high-quality service to his customers.
- Flexible and adaptable, even when unexpected obstacles arise.
- Importance of Integrity in the Workplace:
Creates a Positive Work Environment:
When a company or a working place exhibits integrity and strong values in all situations, its employees feel comfortable and more open — open to sharing their ideas and working hard for their company. High integrity in the workplace increases performance levels, productivity, creativity, and profitability. The employees develop a positive attitude towards their jobs even when things get difficult. Cultivating a positive work environment through integrity is the best way to invest in your employees and see your company flourishing.
Builds Trust:
Showing integrity in the workplace helps to build and maintain trust among employees and with the clients that is an important pillar that helps to establish a strong company or a business. The team members, customers, and clients will gradually leave if a company or a business lacks trust. As a result, the company will face a shortage of staff, will always be in search of new team members, or will be at a greater risk of closing down completely. So, integrity in the workplace plays a key role in building trust and ultimately maintaining a strong company.
Better Leaders:
One of the main reasons for exhibiting integrity in the workplace is that it fosters better leaders. This, in turn, gradually moves to the team members under those leaders and gives them an example to follow. If the leaders work with integrity and strong moral values, the employees will also follow them. Honest leaders acknowledge the fact that their words, actions, and decisions have a great influence on the company and its environment. They give importance to their customers, and set good examples for their team without any selfish motives. In short, success starts with building and maintaining integrity in the workplace.
Promotes Ethical Decision-Making
With integrity as a basis of a team’s ethics, people can work to promote ethics in all of their business dealings – including the way they make decisions. Integrity encourages the right ways to make decisions like developing new products, taking actions to protect the participants, and developing unique policies to give better services to the customers. The right decision-making process contributes a lot to making a successful workplace.
- Examples of Integrity at Work
Most workplaces have a defined code of conduct. This helps employees to know about the guidelines and shared expectations. But it is still important, to be honest in your work – even if it is not listed on a company memo. Some of the examples of integrity in a workplace are given below:
- Work hard and passionately during your working hours instead of wasting time on social apps, personal phone calls, and gossiping with your colleagues.
- Show respect for all the people working around you through appropriate and respectful communication. This respect in the workplace creates a positive and peaceful atmosphere.
- If you are in charge, keep your staff informed about all the important details and the work that needs to be done.
- Strictly and honestly follow all the rules, procedures, and policies provided by your workplace.
- Take full responsibility for your actions and do what you say you will do.
- Use the tools and other materials only for your work purposes. These should not be considered for your personal use.
- Own your mistakes if you have failed a project or missed a deadline and clean up the mess you created.
- Build trust and loyalty by working together as a strong team.
- Be honest in your dealings and never steal anything from the workplace.
- Do not let yourself be involved in any kind of conflict that creates chaos in the workplace.
- Quit your job if your company asks you to do something against your code of conduct and moral values. Find a reputable company that supports and promotes integrity.
- Never steal someone’s idea or take appreciation for your colleague’s hard work.
Character Traits of Integrity
A few important character traits related to integrity are given below:
Kindness
The people who have integrity are kind when they receive any help from others. They express gratitude and appreciate the success of their colleagues. They have true intentions and sincere appreciation towards people who provide assistance or do something kind for them.
Respect
Honest people do not take advantage of others and treat everyone with dignity and respect. They try their best to arrive on time for their meetings, meet the deadlines of the given projects, and to value the time of others. A person can display this quality by being punctual, being careful with his words, and carefully considering people’s opinions.
Loyalty and Honesty:
Loyalty is an important character trait related to integrity. The people who are loyal always work on their flaws and remain truthful in all scenarios. If they are unable to complete a task or meet a deadline, they make sure to let others know as soon as possible. They are honest and have a good reputation that they can be easily trusted with personal information.
Honesty brings a better and positive work environment for people. It is the strongest pillar for the establishment of a reputable workplace. Make every effort to always tell the truth, and strictly ask your team members to do the same. When the people around you feel safe, to be honest, trust builds and your company works better.
A big part of being honest at work is being on time and working until the end of your job. The owners and leaders of a workplace want their employees to clock in and clock out when they are supposed to. This can become a reality if the owners also observe punctuality. The team members will see their consistency and automatically follow them
Patience
Those employees are valued who is patient, adaptable, and flexible enough to work through hard challenges. Tolerance involves allowing others to say or do something. Patience enables you to support your team members and help them with their responsibilities when you can. It requires you to slow down, even in a fast-paced environment. But this exercise eventually improves the way you work and allows you to stay calm and honest.
Ways to Improve Integrity in the Workplace:
Set a Good Example
The smartest way to promote integrity in the workplace is to lead by example. Guidance through our behavior has a greater impact on people instead of saying one thing and doing another. If a person himself is not loyal, he can’t expect his employees to exhibit integrity. Successful leaders are passionate about their team. They go out of their way to pave a way for the whole team to follow their example.
Use of Professional Language
The use of swear words is becoming more and more common these days. But not everyone is familiar with that type of communication, and it is not suitable for most work situations. To improve the integrity, professional language should be demanded by every person in the working place.
Encourage Inclusivity
Promoting inclusivity means producing a fair and honest environment where different types of people are included and treated fairly. Such a workplace makes sure:
- People have equal access to the same services and opportunities.
- All the team members are treated fairly and respectfully.
- People’s opinions are considered and given equal importance. They are given full freedom to contribute to the success of the business.
In simple words, inclusivity in the workplace emphasizes the fact that everyone’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions are important and that the owners must consider all the ideas before making a decision. The good and healthy environment produced by this inclusivity goes a long way.