What is employee empowerment? HRZone (www.hrzone.com) defines employee empowerment as “… a management strategy that aims to give employees the tools and resources necessary to make confident decisions in the workplace without supervision. “  So what does this mean to you and your organization and how does it relate to your Customer Service Vision (CSV)?

Front line staff needs not only the freedom to make decisions in the execution of their assignments but they also need management to support those decisions,  They need an environment that supports independent decision making within established guidelines. For example a CSR needs the flexibility to ship a replacement part overnight rather than the prefered 2-day delivery if she feels the situation requires immediate action,  

There are some tangible benefits to empowering your employees: greater job satisfaction, improved workflow, greater motivation and increased accountability.

There are some drawbacks to empowerment you should consider. Greater autonomy can lead to risk taking as employees begin to redesign procedures and practices and there is some security risk with the dissemination of important information required for independent decision making.

Empowering your employees, while coming with some risk, will benefit your organization. The combination of more satisfied and productive employees coupled with greater customer satisfaction is bound to improve your bottom line.

Check out this video on actual and psychological empowerment by customer service expert Adam Toporek.