Personal attributes valued by employers.

The purpose of the questionnaire that we made was to find out what personal attributes are valued by employers. I have analysed the section of our questionnaire that asks the majority of the personal attribute questions. The other two sections of our questionnaire ask personal detail questions and questions that involve good working practices. With our questionnaire, we interviewed a range of different companies that include supermarkets and high schools. The section of the questionnaire that I analysed included both open questions and closed questions that help us find out exactly what we want from the interviewee which is what personal attributes are valued by their employer. I have analysed the results we gained with things such as graphs and pie charts to represent the findings. The results we gained were very similar.

There first question that I analysed is an open question that asks: ‘What skills do you feel you need to offer in your job role?’

With this question, we expect to receive answers that include some of the key job skills needed in the world of work including, organization, patience, motivation, co-operation, leadership skills, i.t skills and many more. 

The results we gained included: All of the above and more including excellent customer service, management and motivational skills, responsibility, risk taker and more. All of the findings can be found in the graph below.

Some of the same skills have been said by more than one employee which suggests that those skills must be valued by their employer. The most common skills that the employees felt that they need to offer in their job roles are good communication, motivation, customer service and patience as three interviewees said them.

According to our results, the least common skills needed to offer in their job roles are good knowledge, good training, interpersonal skills, literacy skills, leadership and risk taking as only one of the interviewees answered with them.

The next question we asked was a closed question that asks: ‘Do you feel respected in work?’

As you can see from the results 6 of the 7 people interviewed answered yes they do feel respected at work. 1 interviewee answered that they feel respected at work sometimes, and nobody interviewed feels they are disrespected at work. This suggests that the majority of the interviewees who answered that they do feel respected enjoy their job and are perhaps motivated by being respected. However, the interviewee who answered that they only feel respected at work sometimes may not enjoy their job as much and may not be motivated at all.

We then went on to ask another open question that sees the interviewees say that their employer expects them to produce things such as decision making in meetings, monitoring’s of efficiency and effectiveness in the work place and to maintain good standards of work. The question we asked was ‘What does your employer expect you to produce in your job role?’ As you can see from the results that we got in the graph above, there wasn’t a single answer used twice. Every employer gave a different answer to what their employer expects them to produce in their job role. This shows us that all of the interviewees’ companies and employers have different expectations on what they want their employees to produce.

The next question that we asked is another open question that asks ‘In your job role, what does your employer expect you to be organized in?’

We received answers including making sure that departments are run well and safely, being organized in general workloads including e-mails, managing employees and time effectively.

 

The most popular are in which the interviewees employers expect them to be organized in is time management as three of the interviewees answered it. The second most popular areas to be organized in are in their general workload and managing other employees. These two were answered twice by the interviewees. All of the other answers received one vote each. The most popular area to be organized in – time management can range from things such as managing the amount of time spent on work or the setting of priorities.

We then went on to ask a few more closed questions.

As you can see from the ‘Do you use ICT effectively in work?’ question, almost everybody interviewed said yes, except the one who said sometimes. This shows us that all of the interviewees need to use ICT in their place of work and that they have the acquired the ICT skills in order to use it effectively.

The next question asked: ‘Do you feel you work better in a group?’ This question does not apply for one of the interviewees because as they are a manager they have responsibilities of their own where they have to work and produce work alone, however they also have to work as part of a team to motivate and be a role model to fellow workers. So with this question, this interviewee could answer both yes and no, therefore it is not applicable to them. Other than this, 4 interviewees answered yes that they feel they do work better in a group, 1 interviewee said that they don’t and 1 said that they sometimes work better in a group.

 

The next two questions asked:

‘Does your employer expect you to have good leadership skills?’ and ‘Do you feel like you could drive and lead a team?’ 100% of the employees interviewed agreed with both questions which tells us that the different companies and employers expect pretty much the same thing out of their employees.

In conclusion, the questions that I have reviewed shows that the employer expects a number of key attributes from the employee including skills such as IT and Literacy skills, to be organized and many more.

 

Personal attributes valued by employers.

Personal attributes valued by employers

As a group, we decided that we wanted to find out some information about the personal attributes valued by employers. To do this, we have created a questionnaire which we have handed out to employees to answer. The questions are based around the personal attributes valued by an employer and good working practices. This means that we have asked questions to find out about the self-motivation, the health and safety, data protection and organisation.

As you can see, from our results, 60% of our respondents that volunteered to answer were females, and 40% were males. This may affect our questionnaire as the answers are not varied as well as they could be.

As you can see from the above graph, 0% if 20-25 year olds answered the questionnaire, 14.3% of respondents were aged 26-30, 0% was aged 31-35, 28.6%were aged 36-40, another 14.3% were aged 41-45 and a following 14.3% were aged 46-50 and 28.6% were aged 51+.

The first open question we asked was ‘Does your employers expect you to be self-motivated and how you ensure this?’ The responses given back from this were very detailed containing information on how the employee works in their workplace. The first respondent provided information about being self-motivated by their targets they have to meet and how enjoying their job and striving for excellence makes them and their team motivated.

Another respondent said that they can work independently and part of team which makes them motivated. She also said that keeping the children occupied and cheerful motivates her.

Our third respondent said that they feel they are motivated by running a team containing five members of staff. She said that she tries to not only motivate herself but her team too through monthly 1:1’s with staff about training and motivation. The information about the respondent also having 1:1’s with her line manager was also included, telling us that work issues and health and safety issues are covered.

The fourth respondent said that eighteen years of experience ensures that they are self-motivated which their employer expects.

Respondent number five said that they feel they are self-motivated meeting their employer’s expectations by aiming to drive the staff and the business to success, and as they are the line manager, this is what they must ensure.

Again, respondent number six said that they ensure they are self-motivated by meeting targets.

Our final respondent said that they are already motivated due to the position they are at in the company.

Our respondents of the questionnaire were questioned on how they're employers value personal attributes at the current place they work at which were from a variety of sectors from Argos to Marsh & McLennon Companies to Asda to Mersey Deanery-NHS North West to Maghull High School to Sefton Council.

We also asked these respondents what position they are at in the business. They were from a variety of positions from a manager and Financial Analyst at Marsh & McLennon Companies to a manager of a department at Asda, as too did another respondent to the section leader at Mersey Deanery- NHS North West to a business studies teacher at Maghull High School and a Progress Leader and a Learning Support Assistant at Sefton Council Schools.

We also asked our respondents what previous jobs they have had so that we can determine whether this may have influenced the way they act in their current job.

Our first respondent said that they worked in newsagents. This could have potentially played a part in how well they work in their current job, as a sales cashier as they may have known how to use the tills.

Another respondent said that they worked as a Finance Advisor before they were where they are now. This may have helped them in their current job as they may be used to using some of the software used in their current job.

One of our other respondents said that they were the Manager of a food shop. This may help them where they are at today being the manager of a department in Asda, as they may know what they need to produce and provide in their role.

Our other Manager at Asda said that they had worked in a few places before becoming what they are today. These were Sainsbury's, Aroma Beauty and a part time teacher at a school. This may not have potentially helped them in their current role, as they do not contain any tasks that a Manager would have to complete.

The Section Leader at Mersey Deanery- NHS North West had previous jobs such as a Holiday Representative, an Insurance Clerk, and a Bar Assistant. None of these unfortunately would affect how they would work in their current role, however, they may know what to expect from their employer and the personal attributes valued.

The teacher at Maghull High School said that they were a lecturer in Marketing and Management which would help them in Business Studies as they would know about the markets. They may also know what targets they need to meet and how to motivate themselves to ensure this.

Our other respondent was a housewife before an LSA meaning that this may not have helped in how she would work; however, she may have been able to handle children as she may have handled her own as a housewife.

From handing out this questionnaire, we have found a lot of information on how employers value personal attributes, and how employees ensure that they self-motivate and meet targets. This has helped us to understand what is expected in jobs which we may have in the future.