What Does It Mean to Be Reliable?

Being reliable means that you can be trusted to do your work correctly without supervision and figure out solutions on the fly without needing to turn to your superiors every time. An employer needs to be able to trust their employees to get their work done. Holding an employee's hand through every step of their job is the last thing a supervisor has time for.

An employee whose word can be trusted when they say they'll get the job done is considered reliable. Most people think about a professional's reliability as their ability to keep a schedule and show up to work on time. But, a dependable employee's performance extends past this definition. The value of an employee's word is also a clear indicator of their work performance.