Dive Brief:
- Day-to-day environments that foster autonomy (having a real say in decisions and how things work) alongside support (feeling backed by coworkers, supervisors and the organization) mark the difference between workplaces where employees thrive and where they languish, according to a recent study from the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business.
- A survey of 2,000 U.S. workers found that 68% of employees flourish when they are part of a team, or “empowered squads,” with high autonomy and high support, Gies College pointed out in a Feb. 4 post. By comparison, in neglected environments — those with low autonomy and low support — only 10% of employees thrive, the survey found.
- There is no “at-risk demographic;” employees languish — meaning they struggle with engagement, motivation or fulfillment in their roles — regardless of age or racial/ethnic group, gender, educational or income level, or region, the findings showed. Instead, work conditions themselves signal whether employees thrive or languish, Gies College said.
Dive Insight:
Being nice to people or only giving them independence isn’t enough, Oscar Ybarra, a professor of business administration and director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society and the leader of the study, noted in the post.
Employees need the autonomy to make meaningful decisions, and they need support from an organization that has their back, Ybarra explained.
“When you combine those elements, you see a significant increase in flourishing compared to environments where both are absent,” Ybarra said.
An organization’s ethical climate is also a factor, in that employees who flourish are significantly more likely to operate under clear ethical expectations and consistent accountability, the study found.
Additionally, researchers found that employees who flourish are more likely to use positive strategies to deal with stress, such as looking for a silver lining in difficult situations, interacting with others and seeking comfort and perspective from people they trust, and taking breaks for rest and restoration.
Recent studies confirm the importance of autonomy. For instance, a December 2025 report from the University of Phoenix found that autonomy plays a key role in worker resilience. Its research showed that 91% of workers who feel they have autonomy adapt easily to new situations.
Manager well-being is also critical because it affects employee satisfaction with workplace culture and values, an October 2025 report from Glassdoor emphasized. When managers are happy, their teams tend to be happy as well, Glassdoor said.
“Designing for flourishing requires both individual skill-building and organization redesign,” Ybarra explained. “Employees can practice reframing and reaching out, but those behaviors become sustainable when organizations create empowered squads that make autonomy and support the norm rather than the exception.”