2021 HBCU Careers Magazine

HBCU Careers Magazine

Autonomy Employees like the autonomy, or freedom, to complete their job in a manner that is conducive to their preferred workspace, mental state, and systematical approach, given that it produces the desired end result aligned with what leadership is requesting from them. In his book Drive, author Dan Pink states that intrinsic motivation is based on three key factors: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose, where autonomy is defined as “The need to direct your own life and work. To be fully motivated, you must be able to control what you do, when you do it, and who you do it with.” In many instances employees are required to work from home so they can control where and when they do their work. For instance, to break up the monotony of being inside the home office, some associates have found comfort in working outside in local parks, the beach or even taking walks while attending a virtual meeting or following up with emails. An “office” now can consist of a laptop or mobile phone and an Internet connection. These are all examples leading to the fact that the landscape of the 9 to 5 (work) has shifted over the past year. If you are like me, you are looking forward to the day when we get to the other side of COVID-19 but I am sure that some of the disruption encountered in the economy will have a lasting impact moving forward. But, like I mentioned previously, the next change is on the horizon but I am confident that we will be able to implement the needed revisions if we keep these in perspective.

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