The Typical Office Employee
For many people, going to college was a way to escape the monotony, weariness, and uncertainty of low-wage jobs. Their parents punched a clock and stood on their feet all day. These college-bound people dreamed of having a fancy desk in a corner office. But the knowledge workers of today aren’t necessarily any better off. Boring, repetitive, and robotic back-office work doesn’t even pay as much as they thought it would. Also, it feels sub-human.
Because it is.
Can a new and relatively unknown, yet highly profitable automation technology spare modern workers from a life of distracting monotony? A life of fighting with themselves to not check their smartphones on the clock as they copy and paste data from one field into another?
One worker revealed to us that he used to binge whole seasons of Netflix while doing that kind of work. When the shows reached their inevitable final episode, he felt a sense of dread while searching for another.
Taking the Robot out of the Human
The overwhelming evidence from businesses who have adopted Robotic Process Automation is that it does result in more fulfilling work. Basic forms of automation have been around for a while, but the new wave of advanced automation is exciting for managers and employees because it reduces workload, increases productivity, and opens opportunities for redeploying them to more valuable roles.
Most people may wonder if these “robots” will take jobs from people. In the vast majority of cases: absolutely not. In fact, it rescues workers from being robots. It takes the robot out of the human. When RPA leaders conducted interviews with 50 early adopters, a majority of them said they would not be laying anyone off.
The technology enables higher human efficiency by assigning “digital workers” or “bots” to do the repetitive activities faster, without errors. Rather than diminishing the value of the human worker, it makes them even more important. Once the tasks were automated, these early adopters redeployed workers to focus on making decisions or doing creative work to drive the business forward.
At DatCom, we call our process automation service Data Process Automation (DPA), rather than RPA. We are not developing physical robots with servos and wheels, so why talk about “robots” at all? What we are developing with DPA is a software agent that can do a lot of the robotic and boring administrative tasks that make people miserable in the workplace.
What Business Leaders Don’t Realize
The result of robotic work is complaints about being overworked and underpaid. People reason that they can do the work if they have enough money to meet their needs and help them enjoy their free time. This is something that entrepreneurs and business leaders might not understand about many of their employees. Leaders don’t look forward to “free time.” Rather, they use some of their time for strategic rest and recreation. Rank and file employees look forward to “free time” because they don’t share your vision. Why would they?
Employees who trudge through the day to reach freedom are not defective! They simply lack the kind of engaging work that makes them happy to finish every day strong. Certainly, some degree of life coaching could help them view their time management differently, but a stressful, unlovable workday is a hindrance to personal growth. Those who do pursue personal development might be looking for a way to get out of working for you so that they can start their own business! That’s the last thing you want in a tough labor market.
The Path Forward
Instead of waiting for your top talent to fly the coop, embrace their need for more engaging work. Embrace business automation and leverage your human resources for what they are worth. At DatCom, we’re taking our clients further with our Staff Enhancement service. As a business automation provider, we’re a pure profit center for our clients. But we believe that there’s so much more to business efficiency than simply paying less for labor. Our Staff Enhancement platform is a simple, efficient way to make the most of all the time we’re saving with automation.
Employee development is not a new idea, but for many people, it’s a path that feels too costly. It’s the road not taken. Burning the candle at both ends, they lock up when it comes to taking the steps to find their full potential. We make it simple.
We’’ll be talking more about Staff Enhancement in the future. We’re mentioning it now so that you can catch a glimpse of the big picture and the future of work.
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