Barrier 3: Balancing compliance and autonomy
Learn more about the three key areas where businesses must find a balance between compliance and employee autonomy, paving the way for enhanced resilience and agility.
Hyland's team
Compliance regulations and reporting requirements are a necessity, mitigating risk across the board. After all, just one oversight — no matter how trivial — can result in hefty fines, reputational damage and more.
But what happens when enforcement threatens autonomy? Are executives keeping too close an eye on employees? In our report, Unlocking business resilience and agility, we explored the question further — and found that the ultimate challenge concerns employee-executive alignment. In particular, businesses must reconcile conflicting interests in three key areas: employee autonomy, executive-employee relationships and proactive employee empowerment.
Autonomy vs. compliance
At its core, compliance exists out of necessity: It protects businesses, employees and clients. With unique risks in every corner, it’s no surprise that a growing number of executives are keeping close tabs on their employees.
One common pitfall? Hindered agility and speed. To remain nimble in today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving business climate, employees must be able to act decisively — without constant leadership input. While top-level check-ins are crucial to compliance, an excessively stringent enforcement model can add unnecessary friction to day-to-day workflows.
We asked executives and employees whether they perceived an imbalance between autonomy and compliance. The results indicated some degree of polarization:
- Overall, 60% of respondents believe that too much autonomy is increasing risk, while 40% believe that too many compliance rules are slowing them down.
Among the respondents, employees were split 50/50. Executives, on the other hand, leaned toward the former belief: 66% expressed concern that excess autonomy opens the door to risk.
Executives vs. employees
Occasionally, employees and executives are motivated by different goals and perspectives. In this case, alignment is also crucial. Without a shared big-picture vision, executives may opt for stricter compliance procedures and regulations.
The resulting challenge once again concerns autonomy. Employees experience friction when it comes to decision-making, and company-wide momentum suffers.
Our study indicates a notable lack of alignment among executives and employees. Here’s a snapshot of these clashing viewpoints:
- 47% of employees believe they have enough autonomy to act without executive leadership involvement, compared to 62% of executives.
- 55% of employees believe their business has core values that help them make the right decisions, compared to 67% of executives.
- 50% of employees say they have access to dedicated resources for business intelligence, compared to 64% of executives.
- 46% of employees believe they have enough resources to try new technologies, compared to 59% of executives.
- 43% of employees say they have voice-of-customer processes and tools, compared to 57% of executives.
Overall, the number of employees critical of their business’s resilience and agility attributes is 11% higher than the corresponding number of executives.
Action vs. inaction
How can executives and employees ensure they’re on the same page? Proactive action.
Ensuring all parties see eye to eye can be challenging — especially for large enterprise companies. These tried-and-true strategies can help employees delineate shared goals, explore available tools and resources, and make informed decisions:
- Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs
These programs provide a structured pathway toward a customer-centric culture. How does your company gather, analyze and respond to customer feedback? Are your strategies relevant to each part of the customer journey? Are your company’s executives and employees able to draw shared insights? - Voice of the Employee (VoE) programs
These programs aim to better the employee experience. Productive communication models are crucial. By giving employees space to share feedback, desires and goals, businesses can cultivate stronger and more transparent employee-executive relationships. - Effective change management processes
How does your business respond to change? Can employees and executives adapt to new workflows, structural transformations and other overhauls? By implementing strategic change management processes, your business can ultimately improve organization-wide flexibility, agility and decision-making. - Documented risk tolerance
Codifying risk can go a long way. Equipped with a mutual understanding of all organizational threats, executives and employees can make informed decisions while preserving autonomy. - Consistent employee training
Continual professional development keeps the entire business ahead of the curve — and helps employees understand and contribute to organization-wide strategy. - Defined core values
Core values aren’t just about your business’s identity — they also bring employees and executives together, driving the entire organization forward through a shared set of common interests and goals.
Our study shows that fewer than 60% of businesses are leveraging these approaches, despite their effectiveness.
Work together — and let the results speak for themselves
Today’s environment is rife with risk. As companies continue to navigate complex compliance hurdles, employees and executives must work together to reconcile autonomy and risk mitigation. Why sacrifice agility for security, or vice versa? Now, the best of both worlds awaits.
