What is Integrity and Why is it Important in the Workplace and in Life

We are always taught what is right and wrong so we know what to do in different circumstances and what is expected of us leaving no room for excuses despite the fact that we can tell what is good or bad with our intuition

Table of Contents

What is Integrity

Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. ie doing the right thing expected of you even when no one is watching or even when no one knows about it.

Having integrity also means having good moral standards, fairness, good character and being truthful

Integrity can be applied in different aspects of our lives, like leadership, our workplace, business, school, the army or even a relationship

The reasons and outcomes of our integrity actions are relatively the same irrespective of where you are applying your integrity

There is a thin difference between the usage of integrity and honesty; integrity is always attributed to working ethics and morals well as honesty is to our truthfulness and sincerity in our everyday lives away from work towards other people

Most people think integrity and honesty are synonyms but they are not and here is a good example; if you pick a phone from the washroom at your workplace and you take it home then someone asks you how you got the phone and you tell them the truth, you would be honest

But the fact you know it belongs to someone else and you didn’t bother or you are not trying to find the owner of the lost phone shows you lack integrity. Literally that implies you can have honesty with no integrity but you can’t have integrity with no honesty

Here are 9 reasons why integrity is important in life with more emphasis on workplace ethics and business integrity

Importance of Integrity In a Work Place

Below are the reasons why you should practice integrity at your workplace;

1. Keeping your job at a workplaces

One of the core things that will keep you at your workplace is applying the highest level of integrity

This is even more serious basing on what role or department you are applying integrity at your workplace.

No one would want to employ a cashier that would keep swindling money in business and in this case no employer would want to retain your services least they lose

2. Integrity provides the best results from business

It would be hard for a business to survive on lies, fraud or scam

This would be a result of one worker failing to do what is expected of them and thus dishonesty in one department of a business is directly or indirectly going to affect the returns of the entire business

For instance, if the accounts department keeps stealing money then there would be less money to pay workers and also buy raw materials as the business would seem to be making losses when in reality the money is just being swindled

3. Satisfaction from the people you are serving

If you serve people with great ethics they will definitely be satisfied with your work because you will be doing as expected

This will also make them always come back to you for the same service because the service you offered them earlier was good

People will also always recommend other people to you as they would have developed trust in what you do and ability to give desired results

4. Setting a long term existence and a strong foundation for a business

Integrity sets a long term survival and a great foundation of anything.

This is the reason most scams or Ponzi schemes do not last as they are always set up on get quick rich easy come and easy go basis

They are also set up to attain quick money through dishonesty and once the short term goals are achieved that marks the end of the business

Most times they die due people complaining of being cheated their money and empty promises or even the proprietors end up behind bars due to their illegal activities

5. Integrity sets a good culture for a company to run by

Every company has its values and one of those values you can set is integrity.

Setting integrity as one of the core fundamental aspects of business would help a business mission and vision to also be achieved

Everyone that joins in will be already aware of what is expected of them which would help in the long survival of a business

Uniqueness by being among the only few doing it as it is dying out which would also help a business stand out

In today ‘s world if you are honest people think you are weak or stupid as we have developed a bad culture of being selfish but being honest remains one of the most sought after characters in a person

And having it is definitely going to make you stand out since it has no alternative

Importance of Integrity In life

Below are reasons why you should have good integrity in life;

6. Keeping a relationship with someone you love

Even though integrity is associated with businesses another term for integrity would be honesty and in this case, honesty would be needed in a relationship

A relationship based on lies and dishonesty is likely to die once the truth comes out.

Very few relationships survive and recover from dishonest behaviors for instance if a partner finds the other cheating on them; they are likely to end the relationship because no one wants a cheat around them

This will also impact a relationship in the future as your partner will find it hard to trust you in the future

And still, no one would want to be your friend either if you are dishonest anyway

7. Integrity is a fundamental key to success

It’s hard though not impossible to achieve success on your own.

In this case, you will need people around you to help you achieve that success and if you are showing signs of being dishonest or not being able to full fill what you promise

No one will want to deal or associate with you in any way which will stop you from achieving anything

And even if you are not so good at something, someone else can help you achieve greater things in life because of the ethical sincerity and trustworthiness you are portraying to them

8. You make a good reputation for yourself

Especially leaders have the lowest form of integrity to the extent of people getting used to them for not being able to deliver

President Trump is one of the few leaders that decided to deliver what he promised during his campaigns and seems people took him for a joke until they realized he was serious

This shows how people have gotten accustomed to dishonesty from their leaders that they actually get negatively affected when a leader delivers what he promised because most leaders break their promises

So making a bad impression for yourself with your integrity is really going to affect your reputation

9. You are likely to get what you give

If you give honesty and integrity to others, it’s what you will get in return most likely

If you want people to be honest with you, then you better start off by being honest to them as they would be willing to return the favor and every time someone wants honesty in anything they will deal with you as you would have set a good reputation