Would you ever wish to stay in a crowd that will constantly command you to do things of high importance, even at the expense of your own priorities?

In a typical office setting, it is part of every corporate employee’s life to deal with different kinds of distractions, from people down to the environment. While there are a variety of positive things that could demonstrate how beneficial it is to work onsite, these things might also be the reason why several employees are getting consumed by their energy, ultimately leading to a loss of enthusiasm.

In extensive research done by Craig Knight of the University of Exeter School of Psychology, he found that employees who have the authority to personalize their workplace and the autonomy to decide in designing the arrangement of their own space do not only increase their health and overall happiness, but their productivity rate also increases by up to 32%.

This data is just one of several studies that demonstrate how having control over your own state at work can foster a perception of a healthier being and a positive outlook on life. This could also have an impact on how we perceive our level of productivity in completing tasks. When we are distracted by the way our officemates communicate with us and how the culture of work gives us unfavorable energy, our productivity level slowly depletes, resulting in a lower performance value.

But the question is: how does work autonomy effectively work and when should it be regulated?

Boss et al., as cited in the Harvard Business Review, conducted a field experiment on lean start-up entrepreneurship for over 900 students, tasked with creating a start-up business. The researchers make a random assignment to each group with one of the four conditions. For the first group, the students were assigned a fixed group and an idea they needed to accomplish. In the second group, students have the freedom to select their own members, but they are assigned with the idea they wish to pursue. For the third group, the students were the opposite of the second group, as they were assigned to a fixed group but were given the right to choose their own business idea. And for the last group, they have both the autonomy to select which teammates they want to include in their team and the idea they want to pursue.

A board of professionals evaluated the teams and found that a portion, but not entirely, of autonomy could generate the best results. The study shows that teams that could select either their ideas or teammates were 50% more likely to succeed than those with no autonomy and 49% more likely to succeed than those with full autonomy. The teams with a portion of autonomy were capable of matching ideas among their members and could also deliberate the best members that were perfectly suited to work with the assigned idea. Furthermore, it was also mentioned that having full autonomy in choosing the members and the ideas can generate a negative impact as it will only sustain overconfidence in their potential.

It is significant to take into account the kind of autonomy we need to engage in when it comes to the concept of work to fully utilize the effectiveness of work autonomy.

Choosing the right autonomy empowers efficiency in the workplace and strengthens performance value.

Having the preference of when and where an employee would want to work while providing limitations to ideas or members, an employee could take part in establishes not only trust but also a sense of ownership and obligation. This kind of independence promotes innovativeness within the workplace and nurtures a healthier environment with less distraction.

The variety of time-freedom and work-place arrangements reduces employee burnout and allows them to become well-rounded individuals who are more dedicated and honest with their organization and everyday tasks.