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Participation and control: influence over your own working day

Influence over your own work – order, pace, method and changes that affect you – is one of the best documented protective factors in working environment research. It makes high demands easier to carry.

Updated October 6, 2026 · 3 min read

What the law says

«In designing the individual employee's work situation, […] emphasis shall be placed on giving the employee the opportunity for self-determination, influence and professional responsibility.»
Working Environment Act § 4-2 second paragraph letter c (our translation)

The regulation on the performance of work § 1A-1 names «self-determination and influence in the work» as a psychosocial factor. Arbeidstilsynet writes that this covers both formal participation processes and real room to act in everyday work. During reorganisation, § 4-2 third paragraph requires the employer to provide the necessary information and participation.

What Orgpuls asks

The factor «Participation and control» is measured with three statements, answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree:

  • «I have influence over how I carry out my work»
  • «I am heard when something is to be changed»
  • «I can influence the pace of my own work»

Read the number right

  • Everyday work or changes? Little influence over your working day is different from not being heard before changes.
  • Which groups? Work governed by rotas, systems or customers naturally leaves less room – but rarely none.
  • Together with workload? The demand–control model describes high demands combined with low control as the most straining combination. Read more about workload and time pressure.

Common causes

Typical causes:

  • changes decided before the people affected are asked
  • micromanagement of how tasks are to be done
  • systems or routines that lock order and pace
  • suggestions that get no answer, so people stop making them

Three measures that work

Workshop: Job craftingEach employee goes through their own tasks and proposes one change in how they are done. The leader says yes, or gives a reason for a no. Time: 2 hours. Watch: «I have influence over how I carry out my work»
Those affected are involved before changes are decidedChanges that touch the working day are put to those concerned before the decision is made, not after. Time: Ongoing. Watch: «I am heard when something is to be changed»
The team plans its own weekThe leader sets goals and deadlines. The team decides order and distribution. Time: Ongoing. Watch: «I can influence the pace of my own work»

The research behind it: influence over one's own work is one of the best documented protective factors (Karasek). Job crafting, where employees adjust their own tasks, gives measurable but moderate effects.

Measure whether it helped

Run a short pulse on the factor a couple of months after the measure is in place. If the number does not move, the measure missed the cause, and you need to go back to the group and ask again. Read more about getting from results to measures and going through the results with your employees.

Sources

This is general information, not legal advice. We checked what the law says with Lovdata and Arbeidstilsynet in September 2026.

Read more
Workload and time pressure: when the score is lowA low workload score in your work environment survey? What the regulation says, how to read the number, common causes and measures that work.Read the article →Recognition and meaning: when effort goes unseenA low score on recognition and meaning? What the law says, what the number means, common causes and three measures that make effort visible.Read the article →

See where you stand

Orgpuls measures «Participation and control» and ten other factors anonymously, and suggests measures where the number is low. The first 15 days are free.

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