The document discusses important employee attributes that employers look for when hiring. It defines attributes as qualities or abilities related to an individual. Attributes are categorized into specific job attributes, general attributes, and attitudes. Specific job attributes are listed in job descriptions and can include health and safety knowledge, following proper work procedures, and maintaining security and confidentiality. General attributes involve skills like planning, organization, teamwork, verbal/numeracy abilities. Key attitudes employers seek are determination, independence, and dependability.

1. By Ajay Sandhu
EMPLOYEE ATTRIBUTES

2. WHAT IS AN ATTRIBUTE?
 An attribute is a quality or ability that can be
related to the individual.
 These are personal characteristics that
employers expect you to have when you are
applying for a job.
 These can be categorised into ‘Specific Job
Attributes’ ‘General Attributes’ ‘Attitudes’

3. SPECIFIC JOB ATTRIBUTES
 The employer will be looking at specific job
attributes for their new employees to have,
they will usually be enlisted in the ‘Job
Description’ that the employee is expected to
have and undertake.

4. HEALTH & SAFETY
 Health and Safety is one of the vital attributes needed for an
employee in a workplace. This concept would have been instilled
in the employee from school or college.
 However, the company will be expecting the employee to take
responsibility for their safety and their colleagues around them.
 Before starting work, the employee will be expected to have an
understanding of the ‘Health & Safety at Work Act 1974’ and ‘The
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999’
these acts outline the legal responsibilities of both employees and
employers within the workplace.
 Employees are expected to know the basic health and safety
issues around the job in which they are signing for, and many
companies will teach the employees other health and safety
regulations as they ensure you have a safe working environment.

5. GOOD WORKING PROCEDURES
 These procedures include Organisational skills which will affect
your attendance at work.
 One example of a ‘Working Procedure’ is where the employer
allows the employee to have ‘Flexi-time’ this allows the employee
to choose what time they start and finish work. In addition, this
also allows the employee to show how much additional/overtime
they have done at work (if they have done any).
 The additional hours in some cases may be needed when the
organisation gets busy with work, the employee may be required
to work additional hours, but the company will allow the employee
to then take the hours back when the work is quieter.
 The employee will need to keep a record of their attendance at
work, often referred to as a ‘Timesheet’ which will need to be
shown when required.

6. SECURITY
 All organisations have confidential data which is only
allowed to be shared within the company, and the
employees are also responsible to keep it safe.
 Companies may ask employees to sign ‘Non-Disclosure
Agreements’ meaning the employees are forbidden to
discuss confidential information with other individuals or
groups outside the organisation, either whilst still employed
at the company or after they leave.
 Physical Security Techniques include: Alarm Systems;
preventing access to certain computers or documents.
Some companies forbid the use of USB drives as they allow
users to make copies of data.
 Logical Security Techniques include: ‘Encryption
Protocols’ (designed to scramble data and make it useless
to anyone who doesn’t have decryption software) and
Password Protection.

7. GENERAL ATTRIBUTES
 These are a number of job-related skills
employers are looking for in potential
employees depending on what the job
entails.
 The Employee’s ability to show they have
these skills can be highly influential on
whether or not they get the job.

8. PLANNING & ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS
 Employers are looking to see whether the
candidate can plan their time effectively and
organise their work, prioritising it to meet their job’s
objectives.
 Being well organised is very fundamental in a job,
as it removes stresses of being overloaded with
work, and being able to have the bring right
equipment needed for their job, if required.

9. TEAM WORKING
 Being able to work as part of a team, contributing the
candidates own ideas and listening to what other
collegues have to share.
 Being able to work in a team, is a skill that is required in
many jobs, it can be learned however, many people
possess this skill naturally.
 When working as a part of a team, it’s important to
remember that the role they play is only a part of the
overall work, one person cannot control the whole
operation (unless been elected leader).
 When working in a team the candidate must be able to
treat other’s ideas with respect and use them in any way
they can, rather than just dismissing them.

10. VERBAL & NUMERACY SKILLS
 Most employers use GCSE English & Maths
as a national bench-mark for achievement in
this area.
 An employer will want the employee to be
confident in their numeric skills of Addition,
Subtraction, Division, Multiplication and
Percentages. Percentages can be used to
calculate VAT if the job entails it.

11. ATTITUDES
 Work Attitudes are a number of behaviours
that employers look for in the employees to
have in the work place.

12. DETERMINATION
 Determination entails the strength of ones
mind.
 It’s the driven force to allow the person to
achieve or succeed in a particular task in an
environment.
 For example, with my coursework tasks for
my ICT A Level, I am determined to pass and
get the highest level achievable in the work I
have created.

13. INDEPENDENCE
 Employers need reassurance their
employees can work effectively without
supervision, having independence is a key
skill in the workplace.
 It helps in certain situations for example; if
your job included working in a team, you
would be responsible to lead and manage
the team. You will have to be able to work by
yourself, ensuring that your contribution is
vital towards the team’s overall work.

14. DEPENDABILITY
 Employers will be looking for the characteristic of
Dependability, as it allows the company to depend on
the employee to finish tasks without having to worry
about them.
 An example of using dependability skills is if the
employee was a ‘Team Leader’ the co-workers
should be able to depend on their leader to give them
direction in their task, and the leader should be able
to give out help, should the others need it. The other
workers of the team will also be dependent on the
Team Leader to fulfil their duties and contributions to
the overall task set.