NSCA Foundation

The importance of workplace autonomy for wellbeing


Wednesday, 26 April, 2017


The importance of workplace autonomy for wellbeing

Increased autonomy at work leads to happier, healthier employees, new research has found.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham Business School examined changes in reported wellbeing relative to levels of autonomy. They used two separate years of data for 20,000 employees from the Understanding Society survey.

Employees with higher levels of autonomy in their work reported positive effects on their overall wellbeing and levels of job satisfaction.

The research, published in the journal Work and Occupations, found that levels of autonomy differed considerably between occupations and by gender.

Those working in management reported the highest levels of autonomy in their work, with 90% reporting some or a lot of of autonomy in the workplace.

Professionals report much less autonomy, particularly over the pace of work and over their working hours. For other employees, 40–50% of those surveyed experienced much lower autonomy while around half of lower skilled employees experience no autonomy over working hours at all.

“Greater levels of control over work tasks and schedule have the potential to generate significant benefits for the employee, which was found to be evident in the levels of reported wellbeing,” said Daniel Wheatley, University of Birmingham Business School.

“The positive effects associated with informal flexibility and working at home offer further support to the suggestion that schedule control is highly valued and important to employees enjoying work.”

The study found compelling evidence to suggest that men and women were affected in different ways by the type of autonomy they experienced.

For women, flexibility over the timing and location of their work appeared to be more beneficial, allowing them to balance other tasks such as family commitments.

“Flexibility in work location, specifically home working, benefited women with caring responsibilities, allowing them to better manage paid work alongside the household,” said Wheatley.

Men were found to be more impacted by job tasks, pace of work and task order.

The research also highlighted that despite the reported increased levels of wellbeing, in many cases managers remain unwilling to offer employees greater levels of autonomy and the associated benefits, because their primary role remains one of ‘control and effort extraction’.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Boggy

NSCA Foundation is a member based, non-profit organisation working together with members to improve workplace health and safety throughout Australia. For more information and membership details click here
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