Keeping employees satisfied is important for the performance and long-term health of any company. When employees feel empowered, they’re more likely to report high job satisfaction and remain engaged. According to Forbes, one survey of 7,000 employees showed that employees with a high level of empowerment were at the 79th percentile for engagement — more than three times the engagement level of their less-empowered counterparts. Clearly, employee empowerment matters, but how can you promote that culture within your business?
In this guide, we’ll look at how employee empowerment benefits both employees and the organizations they work for. We’ll also cover how monday.com’s Work OS can help you and your team members work efficiently and communicate effectively.
Companies that empower employees see increased productivity and loyalty levels thanks to their positive cultures.What does it mean to empower your employees?
Employee empowerment means providing employees with a level of autonomy, or control, over their day-to-day work. Businesses offer this in a variety of ways, such as:
- Giving employees a voice when considering process improvements
- Involving employees in the development of new systems
- Providing a relaxed work environment with minimal oversight as long as targets are met
- Allowing team leaders to manage their own teams without hands-on intervention from upper management
The key is to create a work environment where employees feel trusted and empowered, rather than held back by restrictions placed upon them by managers. Employee empowerment has many benefits, and the positive impact it has on your team members is something that will cross over to how they perform at work.
Building a culture of trust is key to empowering your employees.
Why is empowering employees important?
Employees who feel empowered tend to display a stronger job performance and enjoy greater job satisfaction. Researchers have found that empowered employees show:
- Increased organizational commitment
- Increased job satisfaction
- Better task and contextual performance
These employees are also less likely to report feeling stress or strain. Consequently, organizations with an empowering company culture are less likely to experience high employee turnover. Employees who feel empowered typically bring extra value to the business.
What are the characteristics of empowered employees?
Empowered employees aren’t just happier themselves; they also bring positivity to the work environment, and this shows itself in several ways:
- They’ll take the initiative to solve problems as they arise.
- They have a sense of ownership over issues and will engage with process or policy improvements.
- Improved morale makes the workplace better for everyone, and it increases retention.
- Employees who feel valued are more likely to invest time and effort in continuing professional development.
The benefits of empowering your employees are clear. If you’re a mid- to-large size employer wondering how best to improve the employee experience and give your team members the support they’re looking for, consider the following ideas.
How can you empower your employees?
Changing an organization’s culture to help employees feel empowered at work is something that you must do carefully. As Allan Lee notes in the Harvard Business Review, empowerment doesn’t always boost performance. In some cases, it can create uncertainty and increase the level of stress felt by employees.
The difference between employees that thrive on increased responsibility and those who feel burdened by it comes down to the level of trust and communication between leaders and followers. Any delegation or increased responsibility should fit with the level of the employee’s experience and come in a way that does not overwhelm the employees.
Let’s consider some ways to empower employees and create a positive workplace culture:
Be open to new ideas
Set up an open-door policy, so your team members can come to you with questions, ideas, or suggestions for process improvements. Sometimes they’ll have good ideas, but other times, the ideas may be ones you’ve already considered and dismissed. If an idea is presented in good faith, the employee should feel confident that it will be addressed.
If you dismiss questions or concerns out of hand, you run the risk of alienating good workers. By listening to the feedback and suggestions the employees “on the shop floor” give, you may pick up some useful ideas for improving your current processes.
Help employees develop their skills
It’s natural for employees to want to progress in their careers over time. While our parents and grandparents may have embraced the idea of a job for life, today, issues such as salary compression drive employees to constantly look for promotions or new opportunities.
Managers can increase the job satisfaction and commitment of their team members by offering training and progress opportunities for longstanding employees, thereby enhancing employee experience. When you offer employees a chance to build and practice new skills, so they can prepare for progression within your organization, you help them improve their long-term prospects and make them feel more valued.
As you strive to give your employees increased responsibility in the workplace, you can help them adapt by supplying them with new tools. monday.com’s Work OS offers a variety of solutions for team management and empowers employees to work more efficiently.
Reward success rather than punishing failure
Fostering a positive work environment is essential for running a successful team. If you want to encourage employee creativity, let team members know that if they suggest new ideas or try new things, they’ll be judged fairly on the work they did.
Provide employees with public recognition for their good ideas and commitment to the organization. If an employee tests a new idea after being given permission to do so, and that idea doesn’t work out, do not shame them for the failure. Rather, focus on what the organization can learn from it and encourage them to get back to the drawing board and come up with new ideas.
If you foster a culture of innovation, you’ll benefit from increased employee engagement and job satisfaction. Your employees will be motivated to come to work and try new projects. And when things do work out, they’ll feel the pride of knowing they contributed to something new and exciting.
Encourage the sharing of information
Employee engagement and communication are particularly important in today’s working environments, where hybrid and remote setups are commonplace. Remote team members may feel out of the loop regarding project changes, or overwhelmed by their workload and disappointed that they aren’t able to access the same level of support that on-premise workers receive. Workload Management Tools from monday.com can enhance the remote employee experience, facilitating communication between off- and on-site workers and helping everyone stay current with important project updates.
Managers support empowered employees
Traditional management models put the managers at the top of the hierarchy, and the employees below them. When you empower your employees, you can flip that dynamic. The managers then exist to support the employees who do the valuable work of serving your customers and producing value for the business. monday.com’s Work Management Software can help your employees do their jobs as efficiently as possible while improving productivity and morale in the workplace.
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