Objective. The objective of this study was to determine and describe the characteristics of Empowerment in companies belonging to the wholesale and retail commercial sectors, and the social and health services in the city of Cartagena, based on the assumpton theat Empowerment is a strategy for improving the quality of life of the employees in an organization and the organization itself, enabling it to be more profitable in the market place. Method. A descriptive study was carried out, and Lin’s empowerment questionnaire (2002) was applied to 294 employees. Results. The results enabled us to determine the most appropriate environments for Empowerment; the employees’ perception, showing how the ‘leaders and culture’ factor highlighted the presence of conducts centered around the employees, the development of communication 1