Autonomy & Productivity

Employers are always looking to improve employee satisfaction without hurting productivity. In fact, ideally the hope is that satisfaction may even improve productivity, as employers want to get the most from their employees as possible while improving longevity within the company. There are a lot of possible ways to improve satisfaction.

One theory that has been tossed around is the idea that the ability to work and feel independent may lead to improve productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Before any theory gains traction, it needs to pass the logic test, and indeed, autonomy has some components that make logical sense: The more independent a worker is the more work they get done without depending on others. Managers can probably think of several employees that refuse to work on their own without checking with someone, taking extra time and not getting work done.

There’s certainly less pressure on someone that feels independent. When people feel they’re being too pressured by management, it’s easy to see how their satisfaction may suffer – and it would not be too surprising if their productivity suffered as well, given that people take longer on projects to try to make sure they are perfect. The methods that people use to become autonomous (for example, working away from the office) all have a tendency to improve satisfaction.

People simply enjoy working away from the office, so it stands to reason that the activities designed to help people gain that autonomy may improve several things for the employee. There are other things to consider as well.

For example, employees may not be as awake and active when they are forced to work the standard 9 to 5 shift, and some of the ways to improve autonomy (like telecommuting) may allow people to work when it’s best for them. Also, autonomous working will put the focus on the work completed, and not the time spent working – two things that could improve production. So logically it makes sense that autonomy could lead to improve satisfaction and productivity.

But satisfaction and productivity research cannot be based on logic alone. You must also make an effort to find out if there is scientific research to back that up. Luckily, there is some evidence that autonomy really does lead to satisfaction and productivity, although it may differ in some ways from common thought.

An example can be seen in the next article.