Everyone Wins When Workers Have Autonomy. Here’s How To Get There.
It’s no coincidence that “quiet quitting” is making waves while worker engagement is the lowest in nearly a decade. One factor leading to low employee engagement? Companies halfheartedly accepting remote work, without granting workers the autonomy that is the essence of true flexibility.
When workers have autonomy, they are empowered to design their day to align with when they work best or around other non-work responsibilities, such as caring for ailing family members or showing up for kids’ activities. They feel free to take breaks and block out “deep thinking” time.
Evidence shows that giving employees the freedom to choose when and where they work leads to increased productivity, motivation, well-being, trust and inclusion, yet only 20% of employees say they have true autonomy.
Trust + Asynchronous Work = Worker Autonomy
Organizations must be highly skilled at two things for workers to have autonomy: Trusting their people and working asynchronously.
As someone who has led a remote-first company, Centric Consulting, for more than two decades, I can confidently say that the trust required to give workers autonomy is the secret sauce to having a great remote culture with engaged employees.
That said, companies must also help people take advantage of the autonomy offered by remote work. Especially if people spent their careers at less flexible organizations, where they were evaluated by how long they were at their desks or in cultures where taking breaks was frowned upon — they’re going to need some help feeling comfortable with a more flexible, open way of conducting work.
Of course, there’s a lot of complexity behind that seemingly simple equation of trust + asynchronous work = worker autonomy. Here are some steps companies can take to encourage people to take control over their workday:
Be explicit about what flexibility means at your organization.
Flexibility is a nebulous term. For some organizations, it means working from home a few days a week. For others, it means full flexibility to work when and where you choose. Companies must define flexibility for their workforce, so people are completely clear on what is expected of them.
Bake work-life balance and trust into your culture.
If you have a cutthroat culture of people working nonstop, you’re not going to be able to pay lip-service to autonomy and have workers follow along. Work-life balance must be a cultural value.
When my cofounders and I started Centric Consulting in 1999, we started with the premise of wanting to create a place we love to work, where people would do great work but still have a life. More than 20 years later, this is still a core element of our culture.
I wrote about this in my book, Office Optional:
We want everyone to have flexibility to manage when they get work done and when they do the things outside of work that are important to them … We let them know it’s not only accepted but expected that their day might not hew to the traditional eight-to-five. We don’t want employees to feel guilty or like they need to hide that they are doing a nonwork activity in the middle of the day.
We keep this part of our culture thriving because we trust our people. We don’t monitor their activity during the workday. We treat employees like adults who want to get the job done and done well. In my experience, the vast majority of people want to do great work, and when they feel trusted, they’re even more motivated to rise above expectations.
Model autonomy as leaders.
The problem with remote work isn’t that people slack off. It’s the opposite: Many people overcorrect and end up working too much. Leaders must set an example, modeling what it means to have autonomy.
Show employees it’s OK to take breaks and that they’re not expected to answer emails and chats at all hours of the day. For example, I turn notifications off on my phone after work hours and even do an annual digital detox when I go on vacation. I’ve also done as a stint as a digital nomad. I openly talk about these things, which signals to my employees that it’s acceptable if they likewise disengage from work.
Evaluate remote workers based on results, not hours worked.
A 2022 study from Qatalog and Gitlab found a huge discrepancy in who is allowed autonomy, with 74% of executives but only 24% of less experienced staff able to choose when and where they work.
I suspect a big part of this problem is that many companies are stuck in the old ways: They evaluate workers in part on how hard they appear to be working, whether that’s by being literally seen in an office or being “seen” online. This results in presenteeism, which contributes to burnout, and is pervasive among remote workers, with 54% feeling pressure to be online at certain times of the day.
Instead, organizations must coach leaders to focus not on visibility of workers but rather the results they achieve. Leaders must know how to set goals with employees and get in the habit of holding regular progress meetings, so people are never in the dark about their performance and don’t feel pressure to be available online at all hours.
Invest in a quality collaboration tool and train people to use it.
Autonomy is only possible with asynchronous work, which in turn is only possible with modern collaboration tools. At Centric, for example, we use Microsoft Teams, which acts as our digital headquarters, housing everything for internal and external group collaboration.
There are two common mistakes companies make with their collaboration tools, both severely hindering asynchronous work: Failing to formerly train people on using it, so they miss out on key capabilities, or investing in too many tools, resulting in confused, overwhelmed employees. One recent study found that workers on average get notifications from over 6 different programs or apps.
When workers have autonomy, they have the space and time to perform at their best. They feel trusted and engaged with their work, leading to more loyalty to the organization and higher retention — invaluable during the Great Resignation.
Ready to reimagine your workplace for the new world of work? Reach out to Centric Consulting to learn about our best practice guides for hybrid work and how we can help you build a thriving hybrid workplace.
