As the global economy has picked up steam, Canadian businesses are looking for ways to boost revenue and remain competitive. Despite digital and technological advances, the primary driving force behind the success of a business in Canada is ultimately their people.

Business leaders who are forward-thinking understand the value of satisfied employees. It boosts morale, productivity and paves the way for innovation.

So how can you give corporate employees the autonomy they want, while ensuring things like compliance are addressed?

Use the Right Software

Employees might not want physical managers constantly looking over their shoulders, but let software do it for you instead. For example, if you’re choosing from Canadian expense solutions for your traveling employees, look for an option that provides company leaders with plenty of visibility and the ability to customize rules engines, but also make sure it’s going to give employees flexibility and freedom.

You can do this by setting up automated approvals or letting them manage their expenses from their mobile devices.

Employees will feel like more of the decision-making is left up to them when it comes to T&E, but as the employer, you can see exactly what’s going on, and you can ultimately set the rules in line with your company policies.

Travel Booking

Also on the topic of employees who travel is how they book. In the past, companies had a travel manager, and they would do all the planning with little to no input from employees. Corporate travel is incredibly important because you need your employees to be as productive and “on” as possible.

Help this by letting them make their own booking decisions. You can set guidelines around spending as an example, but then give them the freedom to select where they’ll stay, or what airline they’ll fly on.

Focus on Creating a Cohesive Culture

One of the big ways a lot of businesses are letting their employees be more autonomous is giving them more choices and control about when they work. Some employees might prefer early mornings, while others might want to start later in the day and leave later. There are also a lot of employees that want remote work opportunities at least part of the time, and so working from home has become more common.

With these moves toward employee autonomy, there are also possible risks that need to be managed. One is that your culture can suffer when people are working in unconventional ways.

It’s important that as you work to foster autonomy, you also give attention to making sure your corporate culture stays strong and cohesive.

Give Employees Ownership

Finally, for autonomy to truly work in a successful way that’s beneficial for the employee and the business, there needs to be ownership felt on the part of everyone. This can be achieved by showing employees the “why” of what they’re doing, and highlighting how they fit into the larger picture and objectives of the company.

Show them how all of their actions influence the long-term trajectory of the business, so they feel a sense of ownership that shows through in everything they do.