---
id: "contrarian-managerial-flexibility-nuance"
type: "contrarian-insight"
source_timestamps: ["\\\"§ Rely on Data", "Not Intuition\\\""]
tags: ["managerial-control", "myth-busting"]
related: ["concept-scheduling-quality-dimensions", "quote-data-not-intuition"]
challenges: "The assumption that managers must approve nearly all employee schedule change requests to maximize retention."
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-111-service-worker-churn"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/the-solution-to-service-worker-churn"
sourceTitle: "The Solution to Service-Worker Churn"
---
# 100% approval of schedule changes isn't required for low attrition

**Challenges:** the assumption that managers must approve nearly all employee schedule change requests to maximize retention.

It is generally assumed that denying employee change requests is bad for retention. The data complicates this: while high approval rates *generally* align with longer retention, the **absolute lowest attrition rate in the entire 20-retailer sample** was achieved by a company that approved only **two-thirds (66%)** of employee schedule-change requests.

Approval rate maps to the **Control** dimension of [[concept-scheduling-quality-dimensions]], but the relationship is non-monotonic — rebutting the "denying change requests is bad" rule of thumb from [[quote-data-not-intuition]].