The next leap in human efficiency and productivity has arrived in the form of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The word “automation” usually causes anxiety within any workforce. However, a recent study conducted by Forrester shows that employee engagement improves when you free staff from repetitive and mundane tasks.
The study (commissioned by UiPath) leveraged data from a survey conducted in 2018 with 100 decision makers. It also included qualitative interviews with line-management in operations, shared services, accounting, and finance roles. The results showed that when you use RPA for the right tasks, employees could focus on more important, strategic, and ultimately human work.
UiPath’s Software Robots become Effective Coworkers
The size of the workload is how companies traditionally approached issues surrounding resource management. One of the newest strategies to balance performance and productivity in an organization is by improving individual well-being. In recent years, it’s become a well-known fact that more than just the size of a salary determines the performance of an employee.
Altering the approach in the workplace towards establishing conditions in which staff feel engaged and valued, does more for employee retention and work-satisfaction than any other kind of initiative. Under these conditions, individual capabilities and potential improve, benefitting the entire organization. Although a noble endeavor, it’s not easy to create and maintain such a work environment if the staff is working long hours to achieve regular deadlines. It’s exactly under these conditions where RPA can assist you with bettering employee engagement and human interaction.
Creating Conditions for Innovation and Creativity from Employees
UiPath’s vision for the future is a software robot for every employee. Using RPA as an effective coworker to automate and streamline repetitive processes, you empower employees to focus on strategic innovations and come up with creative solutions instead. RPA can automate any repeatable, rule-based information-processing task. It also does the work more accurately and doesn’t require you to change any of the IT systems already implemented.
Although this sounds terrifying to most employees, the right approach to change management and psychological behavior around this fear will help staff see the potential RPA has to offer. Instead of feeling like a robot, staff becomes the solution architects that constantly drive the core efficiencies of the organization.
Using RPA to Create Happier Workers
A happy workforce will collaborate more frequently, discuss new ideas openly, and share knowledge between different functional units freely. To achieve this you’ll need to give employees the tools to deliver tasks on time, and with greater accuracy. With improved confidence in each individual’s ability, you’ll have more time to analyze and investigate pain points, leverage cross-functional optimization, and deliver continuous process improvement for better customer satisfaction.
RPA allows teams and individuals to restructure work processes that change the organizational dynamics. It allows management to refocus everyone’s efforts towards the team’s mission and the company’s vision. If you approach the adoption of robotic process automation from this viewpoint, you’ll experience less emotional resistance to the initiative.
Key Findings from the Thought Leadership Paper on the Impact of RPA on Employee Engagement
Overall, the study showed that RPA creates richer interactions between employees and enables staff to carry out tasks that actually require brainpower. From the 100 decision-makers queried, 60% felt that RPA gives employees more time to focus on strategic and meaningful tasks. The study also found that there remain psychological barriers to RPA adoption in most companies. A staggering 82% admitted that change management is a challenge, especially when faced with cultural issues.
When it comes to RPA, the alarmist headlines and negative connotations associated with reduced head-counts created a sense of fear and trepidation in workforces around the globe. Educating employees on the positive benefits and improved work environment will be key to any RPA-based, digital transformation strategy.
Other findings included:
- Companies noted an improvement of 60% in employee engagement.
- Additionally, 86% said RPA increased organizational efficiency.
- With deeper customer insights (67%) and better customer experience (57%) also reported.
Correcting the Misconceptions of the Future of RPA
Far from being the death of the traditional workforce, analysts increasingly identify RPA as a mechanism for job creation and mass empowerment. Companies that embrace this technology reduce operational costs while opening up opportunities for employees to bring more value to the table.
UiPath leads the RPA industry with an extensible platform and a rapid deployment model that remains highly scalable. With UiPath, you can digitize work-processes, orchestrate the entire ecosystem, and deploy robots to execute your automation.
For more information on UiPath and RPA solutions, contact Computer Si and speak to an expert today.