Research published in the 2011 Journal of Applied Psychology (Antecedents and consequences of psychological and team empowerment: a meta-analytical review – Siebert, S.E.; Wang, G.; Courtright, S.H.) provided a number of pressing reasons for organizations to encourage employee empowerment. Fostering an empowering work environment through a strong company culture can significantly boost morale and initiative among staff, while also enhancing resilience during challenging times.
By understanding that there are two sides of the coin when instigating an employee empowerment strategy, an organization will be better positioned to maximize the advantages and minimize any disadvantages.
What is employee empowerment?
For an organization operating in the fast-paced, modern business environment, passing some responsibilities to employees enables quicker decision-making at a lower level. At lower levels, people generally have a closer and deeper understanding of many of the basic processes and procedures that ‘get the job done’ and help the strategic vision of the organization to be achieved. It would appear to make sense, therefore, to give people more autonomy in their decision-making: in a word, empowerment.
A key aspect of this empowerment is the management philosophy, which emphasizes granting autonomy and support to employees. This philosophy promotes independent decision-making and contrasts sharply with micromanagement, highlighting that a culture of empowerment significantly enhances job performance and employee satisfaction.
Empowerment is viewed by seven in 10 employees as an important element of engagement, and employee engagement produces a range of benefits, including:
- Improved productivity, with 22% higher profitability
- 41% lower absenteeism
- Employees who are 4.6 times more likely to perform at their peak
Because employee empowerment is so highly connected with employee engagement, it is little surprise that many of the advantages of empowerment are directly related to the benefits of employee engagement.
The advantages of employee empowerment
There are several definite advantages of embedding a strategy and culture of employee empowerment. These include:
Employee empowerment is crucial for a company’s success as it leads to increased morale, productivity, and tangible benefits like higher profits and better employee retention rates.
Faster problem solving
First, because empowered employees are so close to issues and problems that require resolution, response times should decrease. Faced with a problem, people who are close to it have a natural affinity for it and a definitive reason to find solutions rapidly – it aids their work, making their time easier and more productive.
Executives are often detached from the shop floor, and lack the depth of knowledge required in the solution-finding process.
Increased morale and productivity
People who are given the autonomy to make their own decisions feel trusted and that their contributions are a direct factor in their company’s success. This is a direct determinant of employee morale. For example, 91% of Google’s employees say that they carry meaningful responsibilities within the organization: for six years running Google has been ranked by Fortune as the best company to work for.
Empowered employees working without continual oversight from a manager or supervisor tend to feel more respected. Artificial obstacles to progress of tasks are removed when employees no longer need their supervisor’s approval to move from one stage to the next. Motivated employees contribute to increased moral and profitability per employee improves accordingly.
Additionally, people own the responsibility given to them, and the manager/employee relationship benefits accordingly.
Greater involvement leads to greater commitment
With the greater involvement engendered by their increased responsibility, engaged employees become more involved in organizational strategy. They begin to look at colleagues and customers differently, and their commitment to the company and its future grows. Satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers. Such commitment also leads to decreased staff turnover and reduced costs of hiring and training.
Lower levels of management stress
When employees are empowered with responsibility, managers become freed to concentrate on strategy and the bigger picture. Instead of becoming enmeshed with day-to-day decision-making, managers can concentrate on strategic objectives, project planning, professional development, and customer-centric activities.
Empowering employees invigorates leadership by removing the stress of day-to-day management responsibilities.
Improved staff retention
Empowerment leads to greater employee satisfaction and improved staff retention in the workplace. The 2013 empirical study ‘Employee Empowerment and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Federal Bureaucracy: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective’ found that empowerment practices (such as information sharing, access to job-related knowledge and skills, and discretion to change working practice) have a positive and sizeable effect on job satisfaction.
In a study of 19,700 exit interviews, the Saratoga Institute found that job dissatisfaction factors were among the top seven factors for people searching for a new job.
Clearly, people who are more satisfied at work are less likely to want to change jobs – and improving staff retention has an immediate and sizeable impact on the bottom line. The Society for Human Resource Management has calculated that replacing a member of staff costs an average of between six to nine month’s salary in recruitment and training costs. For an employee on a $50,000 salary, this is between $25,000 and $37,500.
According to the Work Institute, more than 41 million employees voluntarily left their jobs in 2018. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculating average salary as $48,672, poor staff retention is costing the U.S. economy an incredible $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion per year.
The disadvantages of employee empowerment
Lack of experience increases risk
While the handing down of responsibility promises to improve speed, agility and productivity, a concern is that decisions are now being made by less experienced and less expert personnel. This can increase the number of mistakes made and put reputation at risk.
The risk of work practices falling into chaos must be tackled by proper training, and by ensuring that supervisors maintain organizational standards. These standards must incorporate an organization’s values and beliefs: care must be taken that employees do not work in accordance with individual values that may be divergent to the corporate mission and vision. Effective employee development is crucial in mitigating these risks by providing the necessary resources, support, and opportunities for professional growth.
Potential for decreased efficiency
When people are given the autonomy to make their own decisions, those decisions cease to be uniform. This lack of coordination can lead to problems down the line.
It is also the case that autonomous employees may decide to work slower on days when they feel distracted or lack the energy to forge ahead. Where some workers are performing more productively than others, without being rewarded for doing so, internal friction can increase. If not dealt with, this can cause confrontation or a spiral to the bottom as all workers decide to work at the pace of the slowest and least productive team member.
Blurred relationships
Empowerment inevitably leads to a flatter, more streamlined management structure. The risk here is that professional relationships become blurred, and boundaries of authority become broken. This might require greater control over employees, not less.
Accountability issues may arise, leading to a blame culture that, if left unchecked, will lead to further discontent and an environment of mistrust. In such a situation, it is likely that employees will decide to take less responsibility for fear of repercussions should things go wrong.
Poor decision-making
If a team lacks the individuals with skills commensurate to the project, tasks and work required, decision-making will be poorer. This will be to the detriment of the organization, as poor solutions lead to decreasing productivity and internal conflict.
Overcoming Barriers to Empower Employees
Empowering employees is a crucial aspect of any organization’s success, but it can be challenging to implement. Several barriers can hinder the empowerment of employees, including lack of trust, inadequate communication, and insufficient training. To overcome these barriers, organizations must create a culture of trust, open communication, and continuous learning.
One way to build trust is to give employees autonomy and ownership of their work. This can be achieved by providing clear expectations and goals, and then giving employees the freedom to decide how to achieve them. Additionally, organisations should encourage open communication by creating a safe and supportive environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns.
Another barrier to empowerment is inadequate training. Employees need the skills and knowledge to perform their jobs effectively, and organizations must provide them with the necessary training and development opportunities. This can include workshops, mentoring programs, and online courses.
Finally, organizations must recognize and reward empowered employees. This can be done through employee recognition programs, bonuses, and promotions. By recognizing and rewarding empowered employees, organizations can reinforce the behaviors and attitudes that lead to empowerment.
Empowered Employees in Action
Empowered employees are more productive, engaged, and motivated. They are also more likely to take ownership of their work and strive for excellence. Here are a few examples of empowered employees in action:
- A customer service representative who is empowered to make decisions and take action to resolve customer complaints. This employee is able to provide excellent customer service and resolve issues quickly and efficiently.
- A software developer who is empowered to design and develop new products and features. This employee is able to use their creativity and skills to create innovative solutions that meet customer needs.
- A sales representative who is empowered to negotiate prices and terms with customers. This employee is able to build strong relationships with customers and close deals that meet the company’s goals.
In each of these examples, the empowered employee is able to take ownership of their work and make decisions that drive results. They are also able to use their skills and creativity to innovate and improve processes.
How can you improve employee empowerment?
Empowering employees is a cultural issue. Organizations that promote an environment of trust, clear communication, delegation and accountability tend to be good at employee empowerment. Here are five key practices that will help your managers and leaders empower their employees.
1. Share your organisation’s vision
Clear communication of vision is central to embedding a sense of ownership in your workforce. People who understand the vision and how their work contributes to achieving that vision are more likely to feel a part of something rather than just another number on the staff rota.
2. Share more responsibility
Delegating responsibility for work that is designed to improve the capabilities of your employees helps them develop professionally. This will strengthen your team’s ability to work autonomously and lead to lesser need for direct management.
3. Stop micromanaging
People become stifled in their work when they are micromanaged. Instead of managing tasks, delegate the responsibility for them, setting expectations clearly and providing guidance on responsibility. Decisions will be made autonomously but in line with organizational needs.
4. Be open to input
Especially when engaging people in transformational change, being open to ideas and involving people in decision-making helps ensure employees feel empowered and brings out innovative thinking.
5. Be constructive and recognize good performance
Ensure that you recognize people for their effort and good performance, providing positive and constructive feedback to aid continuous improvement. It’s important to be specific when giving feedback and to highlight how positive behaviours have had a positive impact on colleagues. Positive feedback and recognition encourage people to be more creative problem solvers.
The bottom line
Weighing up the pros and cons of employee empowerment, the potential benefits to individuals, teams and the organization are clear and tangible. The potential drawbacks can be controlled by good management techniques, including:
- Positive leadership
- Coaching, training, recognition, and rewards schemes
- An open and transparent communicative environment
Within a culture of employee empowerment, organizations will develop higher-performing teams that think for themselves, developing innovative solutions as they work toward shared goals – and not a robotic workforce consisting of people who do what their managers tell them and now more.
Emotional intelligence among leaders is also associated with the ability to embed a more empowered workforce, helping people to take the initiative and evaluate their own performance.
In short, if an empowerment strategy is well managed, your people will become partners in your success. They will become a transformative force that will jumpstart change and ensure the goals of your strategic vision are accomplished.
Complete this short Employee Experience Assessment to help identify the key areas you need to focus on as a company.
