top » productivity » work » work attitude

140 Examples of Work Attitude

John Spacey, updated on June 26, 2024

Work attitude is the general cognitive and emotional stance that an individual adopts at work. Just as workplaces may benefit from cognitive diversity, they may benefit from different attitudes. For example, a team that has both cautious and ambitious members such that different aspects of things are covered. This being said, some professions and roles greatly benefit from a particular attitude such as customer service representatives who are approachable and helpful. The following are common work attitudes.

Active	Affable
Aggressive	Agreeable
Aloof	Ambitious
Amenable	Antagonistic
Anxious	Apathetic
Approachable	Argumentative
Assertive	Attentive
Authoritative	Belligerent
Biased	Bitter
Callous	Calm
Candid	Careless
Caring	Cautious
Cheerful	Close-minded
Combative	Commanding
Committed	Complacent
Composed	Confident
Conscientious	Constructive
Cooperative	Courteous
Creative	Critical
Cynical	Decisive
Defensive	Detail-oriented
Direct	Disciplined
Disgruntled	Dishonest
Disinterested	Dismissive
Disorganized	Disrespectful
Distracted	Distrustful
Eager	Easygoing
Emotional	Empathetic
Energetic	Engaged
Enterprising	Enthusiastic
Flexible	Forgetful
Fragile	Friendly
Hard-working	Helpful
Honest	Hospitable
Hostile	Humble
Imaginative	Impatient
Independent	Industrious
Inflexible	Inspired
Intolerant	Irritable
Logical	Methodical
Motivated	Negative
Neutral	No-nonsense
Objective	Open-minded
Optimistic	Organized
Outgoing	Overconfident
Passionate	Passive
Patient	Pessimistic
Pleasant	Polite
Political	Positive
Practical	Pragmatic
Productive	Professional
Rational	Realistic
Reasonable	Resentful
Reserved	Resilient
Responsible	Responsive
Self-Directed	Self-motivated
Sensitive	Serious
Short-tempered	Shy
Sincere	Skeptical
Sociable	Structured
Stubborn	Supportive
Systematic	Thoughtful
Tireless	Tolerant
Touchy	Trusting
Unapproachable	Unassuming
Uncommunicative	Unenthusiastic
Unfeeling	Unfriendly
Uninspired	Unmotivated
Unprofessional	Unstable
Warm	Withdrawn

What is a Work Attitude?

Work attitude is the general approach and feeling that an employee puts into their work. This is an indication of an employee's job satisfaction. Work attitude is also an indicator of employee performance and is a foundation for productivity, work outcomes and workplace culture.

Assessment of Work Attitude

Work attitude is commonly assessed by managers on performance reviews with a process of observation. Work attitude can also be assessed using interviews, surveys and questionnaires. However, employees will not necessarily be open and candid in a survey. Assessments of work attitude focus on these key areas:

Engagement	The degree to which an employee is interested and immersed in their work. This includes elements such as ambition, due diligence, effort and visibility whereby an employee is covering every possible aspect of their work with energy and enthusiasm.
Organizational Commitment	The level of attachment and loyalty an employee has to a job and company. This includes how much an employee needs the job and feels obligated or tied into it. In some cases, an employee views a role as part of their identity and deeply fears losing their job. Employees can also have a sense of loyalty, duty and reciprocity whereby they feel they want to contribute to an organization because they have been treated well or given a good opportunity.
Work Ethic	How much effort and care an employee puts into their work. This includes focus and depth of immersion in tasks and a willingness to work longer when something important needs to be completed.
Interpersonal Attitude	How an employee treats other people including managers, coworkers, partners and customers. This begins with professionalism whereby on the surface of things an employee maintains a high standard of conduct. Interpersonal attitude also includes the spirit of conduct such as not being passive aggressive. Another important factor here is personal presence and whether an employee comes off as hostile or unhelpful, particularly towards customers.

Job Fit

Job fit is the extent to which the requirements of a job match the personality, experience, style and aptitudes of an employee. In terms of work attitude, job fit relates to the attitudes that are important to a job. For example, a friendly and helpful attitude is critical to customer service roles but perhaps not as important to a financial auditing role where a diligent and critical attitude is key.

Indicators of Work Attitude

Work attitudes can be assessed by looking at the behaviors, performance and outcomes of an employee. For example, low visibility, isolation from their team, avoiding action items and absenteeism may indicate low engagement and commitment.

Work Attitude vs Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is how satisfied or dissatisfied an employee is with their job. Work attitude is how an employee approaches their work. These are not the same thing and high job satisfaction doesn't necessarily generate a productive work attitude and vice versa. However, work attitude does correlate to intrinsic satisfaction related to rewarding work, level of achievement, autonomy and social satisfaction in a role. In other words, if someone is satisfied with a job because they find it rewarding, they are likely to have a positive work attitude where this may actually be the cause of the satisfaction. Addressing extrinsic satisfaction with techniques such as paying an employee more may have a limited or temporary influence on attitude but it is more intrinsic satisfaction that matters.

Improving Work Attitudes

Generally speaking, an employer improves work attitudes with a process of performance management that can include performance improvement plans. In other words, an poor work attitude is viewed as a performance issue. Job satisfaction, on the other hand, is viewed as a culture issue that employers do try to address across their organization with improvements to working conditions and workplace culture.

Next: Employee Strengths