Employee retention is affected by a lot of differing factors, one of which is employee satisfaction. Satisfaction levels can be greatly influenced by how much control or autonomy employees feel they have over their day-to-day work life. For a job with little change and little opportunity to exercise any type of control, employees may get bored or frustrated easily. And, in situations where there is a lot of room for autonomy—and yet it’s not allowed—employees can be fed up quite quickly.
Increasing opportunities for employee autonomy is one of the ways employers can have a positive impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
Benefits of Allowing Greater Employee Autonomy
Employees like to have some form of control over their working environment, even if it’s just a small amount. This helps them perform at optimum levels and shows they’re trusted to get the job done to the best of their abilities.
Here are some benefits of ensuring employees have autonomy within their roles:
- Employees feel more in control and thus more likely to be satisfied with the workplace.
- Having choice allows employees to self-select the types of work they want to spend most time on. This is likely to encourage a situation in which they’re best utilizing their talents and what they’re passionate about.
- It shows employees that they are trusted, which can help with employee satisfaction and engagement.
Obviously, not all roles have much room to give employees more autonomy. That said, it’s important to give as much as is reasonable for the situation and not let micromanagement get in the way.
How to Increase Employee Autonomy
Naturally, the specific ways you go about increasing employee autonomy will vary, depending on your business model, industry, the role in question, and other factors. But here are some examples of ways employers can increase employee autonomy:
- Allow employees to give input on what projects they’d like to work on.
- Cross-train employees and give them opportunities to change roles if they would like. Train and develop people to give them the skills to allow them to do their job better.
- Let employees choose which customers they work with.
- Instead of giving exact details on how a job must be done, give the employee the desired/required outcome and allow him or her to devise how to get there.
- Allow employees to choose their own team members when in charge of a team project.
- Let employees set their own work hours whenever possible. This allows employees to work during the hours in which they will be most productive.
- Seek out input from team members across levels. Seeking input shows employees that their perspectives are valued; this can be a first step toward encouraging them to take more steps on their own.
- Find ways to discover and stop micromanaging in its tracks. For example, conduct employee engagement surveys, and ask questions about managerial styles. (This is just one way to root out micromanagement, which can stifle autonomy.)
- Try to create a company culture that embraces and encourages employee autonomy.
- Give employees the authority to take action without getting approval in advance, whenever appropriate. This could take many different forms. It not only gives autonomy but also increases the efficiency of problem solving. (Give guidelines if necessary.)
- Get employee input when setting their goals.
While some of these points may not be applicable to a given situation, they can be used as thought starters for other ways employers can give employees greater levels of control and satisfaction with their job.