Why Should Organizations Integrate HR Automation Technology in Hybrid Workplaces?

To date, many organisations have adopted HR automation technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to improve productivity in the remote and increasingly digital work environments.

It’s slowly becoming a norm for people to work alongside virtual software assistants to share work, hand it off, and taking it back throughout the day. While these tools are becoming a valuable business opportunity, there is also room for challenges to arise. For example, HR automation technology can help organisations divert the impact of current worker shortages by helping them get more work done in a shorter period of time.

With that said, HR automation technology unlocks more human potential by streamlining tasks, giving workers more time back in their day to focus on more strategic work. However, it begs the question to HR teams of how to manage a human-digital workforce.

Here’s what human resources managers should be prioritising to successfully migrate their organisations into the future of work:

1. For a human-digital workforce to work, there needs to be a change in management styles

To those who have yet to explore automated initiatives, planning the right management style can successfully transform organisations into a fully automated enterprise.

Making the organisational decision to invest in HR automation technology is only a first step into the future of work. Businesses will have to encourage their employees to adapt to these new tools in order to make the investment worthwhile – which also depends if the user understands the value in HR automation.

In addition to discussing how automation can make employees more productive (taking on manual or tedious tasks such as data entries, rule-based processes), it’s crucial for HR to highlight that software robots do not replace human jobs.

This doesn’t discount the fact that some employees may find RPA intimidating for its ability to take over human tasks from start to finish while maintaining oversight and approval at the same time. Moreover, having the take on these responsibilities allows employees to advance into higher-skill roles that effectively further them in their careers instead of stopping them short.

Once employees are on board with adopting automation, the natural step is for HR to provide their employees the necessary training sessions on how to use these automation tools so that they’re comfortable leveraging it in their daily work.

Fortunately to say, today’s workforce has been very receptive towards the understanding HR automation technologies, seeing that majority of global office workers are recognising automation as a critical skill in their development.

Besides providing trainings, HR should check in on employees every now and then about their experience with using automation tools. This allows HR to also provide new up-skilling opportunities for employees to stay updated with the latest HR automation technologies.

Simply by training employees on developing their own automation, aside from teaching them how to use the existing tools from the management, it encourages employees to take an active role in the initiative. This allows employees to foster a sense of control over their workloads, especially when they know how to navigate around an automation software to support certain parts of their jobs.

2. Offering employees more than just technical skills

With robots assisting organisations’ in completing nitty-gritty tasks, organisations can spend more time defining higher-skilled roles within their teams.

Dynamic HR teams have began mapping out jobs that are likely to evolve or disappear in response to the latest market demands, including new jobs that could emerge. With that, HR teams are planning to train, up-skill, and deploy workers into these new positions.

In order to move existing employees into these higher-level roles, HR will have to initiate a wide-scale training effort. Business leaders expect themselves to retain a third of their workforce over the next couple of years, as a result of implementing advanced HR automation technology.

HR will have to broaden their training materials to accommodate employees who may not want to venture into designing their own automations. End-user programs like these should focus on encouraging workers to change their workday patterns, adopt new processes, and learn to effectively utilise their robotic assistants.

This doesn’t go without saying that training opportunities must also include soft skills such as leadership, critical thinking, and the adaptability to technical skills.

As overwhelming as this training initiative seems for HR managers, especially after having to cope with pandemic-related responsibilities such as managing a remote workforce – they’ll eventually find that automation is a supportive tool.

HR managers can leverage automation technology for their own data entry needs, such as onboarding new employees or registering workers for training sessions. Software robots can take over time-consuming tasks on a HR’s to-do lists so that they focus on their people, ensuring everyone adjusts to the increasingly digital workplace smoothly.

Conclusion

The reality of today’s business environment requires HR to evolve in order to manage a human-digital workforce. As automation tools become commonplace in today’s offices, HR must prioritise training employees on how to effectively leverage these technologies and adjust to how their roles will change—for the better in the wake of HR automation technology.

With proper planning and continued oversight, HR departments will be able to stay ahead of workplace shifts and put their organisation at an advantage to thrive in the future of work.

Find out more about Worksy’s HR automation tools, feel free to contact us today.