by Benjamin James

Created on: May 19, 2009

Who would want to admit to being a flaky employee? Flaky employees are eventually found out, are passed up for promotions, and are the subject of water cooler conversations. Determining whether or not you are a flaky employee is the easy part. However, changing is going to take effort and commitment. To determine if you are an office flake, compare your behaviors to the following characteristics. There is just one thing to remember while taking the flake test, dishonesty is a sign of flakiness.

1. A flaky employee enthusiastically volunteers for projects, however, their enthusiasm takes a nose-dive once it's time to deliver. If you find yourself volunteering for projects, but then trying to come up with ways to weasel your way out of them, then you may be a flaky employee. The flaky employee is more concerned about receiving credit, than they are in taking pride in their work.

2. Are you often tardy for work or meetings? Not only are flaky employees reliably late, but they are often mulling over which excuse they will use this time. Their game is to get away with as much as possible, while looking as noble as possible.

3. Flaky employees get distracted by just about everything. They may have a sincere intention to be productive, however, personal phone calls, excessive socializing with colleagues, and paying their bills while on the clock seem to get the best of them.

4. The employee that is flaky lives a double life. Their biggest effort is in acting, they strive to put up a good front in the presence of their supervisors, however, you see what they are really about when they think nobody's watching. Along the same lines, a flaky employee can also be described as two-faced.

You probably now have an understanding of the essence of a flaky employee. If not, a flaky employee can be summed up with one word....unreliable. If your work behavior matched any of the four characteristics, then you are a flaky employee.

It's a good thing that life is always full of second chances. Consider practicing the following tips if you are a flaky employee. When you volunteer for a project or task, make a commitment to yourself to follow through with it. Make an effort to arrive to work ten minutes early instead of ten minutes late. While it's healthy to socialize with your colleagues, keep socialization time reasonable; be aware that your co-workers and you are both being paid to be productive. Lastly, be aware that somebody is taking notice of your behavior at all times.

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