I Still Don't Get It: What Does "The Basics" Even Mean at Work?

"That employee doesn't even have the basics down. I mean, the basics are the basics, right...?"

If you've spent any time in an office, you've probably heard some version of this. And yet, after all these years on the job, I still don't really know what "the basics" are. I wish someone would just spell it out for me, because the basics remain surprisingly hard to pin down.

Who decides what counts as basic?

For an engineer, is a grounding in electronics the basics? For a writer, is it grammar? And for an office worker \u2014 is it, broadly speaking, the company rulebook?

The more I think about it, the harder it gets. For one thing, the standard is different for every person. You can't hold everyone to the same yardstick and declare, "This is the baseline."

Something that gets a pass for a new hire can become a "basic" that a senior colleague is never forgiven for missing. The very same mistake might get a shrug and a "hey, it happens" from one person, and a "they don't even have the basics down" for another.

Nobody knows the entire rulebook

If the basics for an office worker really are the company rules, then none of us has them. No one can know every rule in the handbook. We're never trained that way, either.

Company rules are more like a constitution \u2014 they mark out the boundaries for situations that plain common sense can't settle. You look them up when you need them; you don't walk around with them memorized line by line. Sure, some people probably do know them all...

So for me, the basics come down to attitude

Which brings me to this: in the end, I think the real measure of "the basics" is attitude. Specifically, the attitude you bring to the work.

Knowledge varies from person to person and from one level of experience to the next. Nobody can know all the rules. But the way someone approaches their work \u2014 that's visible in anyone, whether they're a first-year hire or a twenty-year veteran.

Let's stop saying "they don't have the basics"

That's why I believe "they don't have the basics" is something we should never say about anyone.

"I wish their attitude were a bit better" \u2014 fine, maybe. But "they don't even have the basics down" sounds like a rejection of the whole person. For the one hearing it, that cuts deep.

Will I finally understand the basics by the time I retire?

For now, it seems I still don't know what they are.