Employees Want Autonomy Not Flexibility

A combination of new data and anecdotal evidence has suggested that rather than seeking flexibility at work, employees are actually more concerned with having the autonomy to choose how they work.

“It’s clear that employees increasingly want more say over their own working patterns. In a world where retaining the best staff can be challenging, leaders will want to do what they can to honor this. ”

By better understanding the skills of the workforce, employers can make better decisions about creating the right working arrangements, says Questionmark, leading online assessment provider.

Employers are wrestling with calls for new models of working at a time when staff are increasingly likely to resign. With the debate around work patterns running hot, companies may be missing the point if they think employees are only after certain types of working.

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A recent study highlights that 59% of employees reported that flexibility is more important to them than salary or other benefits. Yet 61% of employees prefer management to allow team members to come into the office or work from home when they need to.¹ In other words, they want flexibility, but only if it comes with autonomy.

John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark, said: “It’s clear that employees increasingly want more say over their own working patterns. In a world where retaining the best staff can be challenging, leaders will want to do what they can to honor this.

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“But employers also need to be confident that relevant job roles can be performed effectively from home and that team members have the skills to work constructively in different environments. Workplace skills assessments can give employers helpful information that helps them form the best working policy and real data that enables them to justify the decision to the workforce.”

Part of preparing working arrangements is being able to measure staff skills and using those insights to form the right model and policy. These assessments can:

1. Show which tasks can be carried out well from home
2. Pinpoint which skills have diminished during mass remote working
3. Highlight staff concerns and attitudes towards new working arrangements.

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