How important is “freedom” to you in your job? It may be better defined as latitude, lack of micromanaging, or just the ability to prioritize and execute the job largely on your terms?

I make a good wage, and sometimes get overwhelmed with the amount of work that gets piled on me, but in the last couple of years, I’ve got more and more freedom to do the job on my terms. Yeah, like in any job, there are times and places that the job dictates the schedule. And in those times and places, I may be forced to work 30 hours straight. Sometimes, I have to get up a 3 in the morning for what will amount to be 10 minutes of work.

But largely, I get assigned tasks, I go above and beyond those tasks, complete them on time, and not need much direction from the bosses on the execution.

That freedom means a lot to me.

Very high. That is why I am self employed. I do not like someone questioning my work unless they have the same level of training and experience that I do.
I can take criticism and instruction outside of work relatively easily. I set my hours and work as much or as little as I choose. I have worked for others and did not like it. Been working since age 14.

Extremely high.

It's one of the main reasons why I accepted the promotions and assignments that I have. I have the wide latitude to make decisions and handle things how I want to handle them, and then deal with the results (good or bad) myself, without significant interference or micromanaging.

It counterbalances the stress and mediocre pay.

When you work for "Da man" there is no freedom, ever. Latitude, Sure that could apply to a slight degree.
I am going to assume that most that will post in this thread will be in some sort of gov job.

We have gotten so out of wack with those jobs vs private sector. I truly feel this is the largest problem in our entire society and causes so many other issues.

I could not of seen myself working for the gov my entire work career. No thanks.

Very high. Tell me what needs to be done let me be to get to it.

That was one reason I worked for smaller companies my entire career: They mostly let me be. I often had engineers and the like, that worked for the bigger companies that were our customers, express envy of the freedom I had.

I'm in a department of 3 [IT] for a smallish O&G company (400ish across 15 offices.
We're mostly left to do our thing & mgmt trusts that our recommendations are what's needed without overspending.

I'm on the software side & apart from troubleshooting, my boss lets me do my thing.

Freedom ranks right up there with compensation, and doing work that you find rewarding, and/or enjoy doing.

I spent most of my career working for myself.

Now that I work for the man, I still do as I please.

I do the best I can to get it done, my way.

If they don't like it they can fire me.

I had a lot of freedom at work, then we had an organizational realignment. Now, I report to one person and am dotted-lined to three others. Now I feel like I’m always justifying my work and my people.

I’m to the point where I’m exploring other options. Freedom means a lot to me, but not enough to walk away without a plan.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Very high. Tell me what needs to be done let me be to get to it.

This is it. Don't ride our backs, don't ask for status updates every afternoon, don't get in our way. My teams know what they're doing -- let us know what you need, and we'll try to get it done.

Over my professional career, I've largely had that freedom -- or latitude, as old rugged cross mentions -- and it's been a great thing.

My organization gets a new leader next month, and there's a lot of anxiety associated with that -- we're hoping the new fella is of similar attitude as our current (outgoing) leader. Fingers crossed!

When I stepped into my current position I asked, "how much contact do you want from me? Routine meetings or reports?" My leader said, "Nope. I trust you to do what you need to do. If you need something, feel free to come see me." I'm going to miss this guy....

I worked the midnight shift so I could be free from service calls, shoplifter arrests and running from call to call. Without those types of calls taking up my time, I could do what I loved: Hunt bad guys.
Freedom was a big priority for me.

Before my 12/31/21 retirement, I had a large degree of freedom and flexibility and it was good. In my new seasonal job at an outdoor recreation company, I have slightly less freedom because the business demands to run a certain way that I am still acclimating to but my latitude is getting better as I demonstrate an understanding of the biz. The upside is WAY less stress and responsibility, a vastly increased “fun factor”, and the ability to switch to a different discipline- I’m in the process of training to be a white water raft guide. I’m having the time of my life.

Very. That’s why I work for myself.

I was relatively lucky when I worked for others in that I worked in places where the focus was getting stuff done. As long as one got what needed to get done done, immediate management tended to stay out of the way and focus their efforts on keeping upper manglement out of our way too.

The thing that drove me nuts was micromanagers.

Only had a couple, but when I found out I was gone as I won't work that way.

Ended up self employed for the money and the freedom which I exchanged for a steady paycheck.

Best deal I ever made.

The amount of freedom I have in my job is crazy. I make a good wage. I work for the director in an IT department.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Whiny, anti-government drivil

You forgot to mention you pay their salaries.

And you don’t want to create joinder.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jljones:
[QUOTE]


Best wishes.

Got me on that one. I did not check my thesaurus


What about this one.

And why are you quoting something I did not say? Bizarre Guessing that was your own quote before you deleted it?

When I worked in a corporate environment, I actually liked the structure. Your boss was your boss, he (I guess she or whatever these days) said get your ass on a plane and fix that problem in X city, and in 4 hours your where in the air. I found connecting with your boss and preforming paid dividends. Yeah, they owned my ass, still it was rewarding for me.

When I ran my business, I was very very flexible with my employees. Of course it was a 8 employee company. The old aforementioned corporate structure would never have worked.

quote:

How important is “freedom” to you in your job?

How important - VERY IMPORTANT, primary reason why we now (since 2005 anyways) own our own business. We get to make the rules.

After time in the Army and working for a municipal P.D. - it's a BIG change! I never thought that I would want to own my own business, but man is it "freeing". My wife actually runs it, and she has done a great job. I only go in 1 or 2 days a week nowadays, free time for range work (both shooting and golfing )

I'm free to do whatever I want during the day. I have duties/assignments that need to be completed, but I determine how and what priority are given to them for the most part. If there is an emergency I obviously have to address that before trying to get a head start on next week's work. If it's a mandatory meeting or compliance related, obviously I have to attend.

As long as I complete what I need to when I need to while following company standards and procedures the rest is up to me.