In the changing world of work, the virtues of yesteryear can seem quite the opposite in the contexts and complexities of the 2010 workforce environment.

Take the reasons underlying employee absenteeism. Overall, every successful organisation wants the highest possible productivity on the corporate as well as individual levels, but in order to achieve that the work ethic must be cultivated in context.

In other words, you want people to come to work instead of finding excuses to stay home, but not at the sacrifice of “duty” over reason.

Our current global environment is rife with such features as the swine flu pandemic in progress (which may be milder than many predicted, but let’s not forget that pandemics are not known for predictability and can last up to three years characterised by fluctuating waves of activity).

In such a complicated and high-stakes scenario, old-fashioned virtues can turn into modern liabilities.

For example, it is no longer regarded as a good thing for employees to come to work when they’re feeling under the weather. Gone are the days when HR perhaps then termed the Personnel Department, would turn a blind eye to the diligent and conscientious on staff who would report to their jobs no matter what come flood, pestilence or cyclone.

If your loyal call centre employee not only sounds at the brink of death, it’s off-putting to clients on the other end of the phone, plus the other staff won’t appreciate being subjected to what evere it is they are suffering from. Good intentions, unfortunate consequences.

Genuine dedication is one thing and should be suitably encouraged and recognized but the era of admiring self-sacrificing martyrs is long gone.

Misapplied diligence is no longer diligence; it’s a detriment and needs to be actively monitored by today’s managers and executives and administered in a uniform and consistent way to protect all in the workforce…sometimes even against themselves.