In the first article we published on enterprise automation, we explored how and why it is being adopted by organizations across all sectors and sizes around the world. With enterprise automation, software robots take on repetitive, mundane tasks—like data collection and entry, processing transactions, reconciling records, or scheduling meetings—creating more productive businesses and boosting the customer experience.
But, perhaps most importantly, enterprise automation frees humans to focus on more strategic, creative work. Software robots are vital in today’s workplace, ensuring people don’t have to be robots themselves.
This is an absolutely essential benefit as today’s organizations struggle to retain and attract top talent. Ensuring a positive employee experience—one that enables employees to grow their skill sets, show their value to their organization, and focus on the work they’re passionate about—is vital as organizations navigate The Great Reshuffle. Fifty-eight percent of employees surveyed by UiPath believe their jobs don’t allow them to be as creative as they’d like to be. People are looking for a renewed and revived sense of purpose in their work, and while there are many routes companies can take fulfill this, giving employees a better work/life balance and opportunities to learn new skills is often cited as a top way to enhance the employee experience.
Let’s explore how automation enables employees to feel a sense of purpose, and make work, work again:
AUTOMATION ENABLES EMPLOYEES TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
No industry is untouched by wasted time. Automation gives that time back—to employees, and therefore to an organization—as software robots take on burdensome rote tasks faster and more accurately than a human ever could. An example of this is one of New York’s largest and longest -nonprofits. The New York Foundling, which helps children, adults, and families reach their full potential, saves 100,000 hours in manual work annually with the help of automation. By letting software robots take over what were once manual, paper-based processes, the organization automated tasks to give more time to give back to its clinicians and allow them to engage in higher reward work such as completing advanced licensing programs, participating in committees, and spending more meaningful time with their clients.
In addition, a recent UiPath survey found that employees opting to continue working with their organizations are being forced to take on the workloads of colleagues who are leaving in droves, on top of managing their usual responsibilities. Consequently, these employees are growing frustrated by not having enough time in the day to get everything done, and they are more apt to resign, too. Enterprise automation can help take on the burden of these extra tasks, alleviating stress, reducing burnout, and giving time back to the employee.
AUTOMATION LETS EMPLOYEES BE MORE STRATEGIC AND CREATIVE
Imagine if you saved even one hour a day at work by delegating data entry or scheduling to a software robot. What would you do with your newfound time? Maybe you’d meet a new colleague for coffee, or schedule a team brainstorm to deliver more creative, strategic, and thoughtful ideas to your clients? The time saved that automation affords enables employees to not only find the work/life balance they all desire, but time to focus on more strategic and creative work—work humans want to be doing and work that delivers better outcomes for business and its stakeholders.
At Mater Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, nurses processing COVID-19 tests used automation for data entry, ultimately saving more than three hours every day to truly focus on their patients—and ultimately deliver better patient outcomes. The time afforded by automation gave Mater Hospital’s nursing staff improved efficiency and the hospital more patient-centric care.
AUTOMATION GIVES EMPLOYEES OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN NEW SKILLS
For enterprise automation to be effective in an organization, employees must know how to use it. Organizations need to offer automation upskilling and reskilling opportunities so that they can make the most out of the technology. And it’s a win-win for all. According to a UiPath study, 86% of global office workers demand new skills training from employers to be more competitive in the workplace and advance their careers. Meanwhile, organizations benefit from the increased productivity and innovation, improved customer service, and reduced errors rates that automation enables.
Lastly, inherent in all humans is altruism. People want to feel that they are giving back to their communities and helping the world be a better place. Enterprise automation has the capacity to give employees that sense of purpose and is being used in myriad ways to help better society. In the last article of our series, we’ll dive into how enterprise automation is being used for the good of humankind.
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90769188/how-automation-creates-happier-employees
