5 Major factors affecting employee productivity and how RPA can tackle them

Employee productivity is one of the most important key performance indicators for every successful business. Having a team of hardworking and committed employees makes it much easier to realize the business goals and generate more revenue. That is why company owners and managers always look for ways to optimize their business processes and improve employee efficiency.

Traditionally, employing time management approaches and reengineering utilities were at the forefront of boosting employee productivity. Today, the development of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions has made it a lot simpler for companies to redefine their processes, reduce errors, cut operational costs, ensure compliance, as well as improve output and employee morale.

Below is a quick look at some of the prime factors that affect employee productivity levels and how RPA solutions can help to tackle them.

1. Employee engagement

Good people management practices go a long way in boosting employee confidence and loyalty. According to a CIPD study, around 21 percent of employees look for another job because they expect better benefits with a different employer. Losing employees can cost the company a lot in terms of additional recruitment, training, and time.

RPA bots not only automate data processing and work round-the-clock, but they also free employees to focus on the more interesting and creative aspects of their job. This enhances the employee experience and allows them to give their best output for achieving the goals of the company. A survey by UiPath even reported that more than 50 percent of businesses found “improved employee engagement as a benefit of RPA.”

2. Information overload

Humans can only process a limited amount of data and information effectively. However, as the business grows, employees will have to manage a wide variety of information every day to do their job. Then there is data from their emails, applications, and the internet. All of that leads to information overload, which affects the employees’ ability to make quick decisions.

RPA can be of great use to process huge amounts of data to streamline different business processes. Automation bots can be configured to set up customers, manage suppliers, project data in the ERP systems, and handle other types of information to ease the stress from the employees. Many of the day-to-day customer interactions can also be automated with RPA and chatbots to further filter the information that is passed on to the back-office staff.

3. Business processes

It is seen that employees struggle to find meaning in tedious, repetitive tasks because they feel that their talents and abilities are not being used to good use. This often leads to poor performance and can also cause interruptions in the operations. Unit4 reports that office employees spend more than 550 hours every year doing administrative or repetitive tasks. This means around 69 working days wasted per year.

Interestingly, the study also found that around “75% [employees] support the use of technology to automate some or all of their administrative burden and 74% said it would improve their productivity.” RPA software is designed to do just that – handle mundane, repetitive tasks strategically for the business so that employees can focus on other things that utilize their skills and enhances their productivity.

4. Staff training

Employee training plays a crucial role in how they are prepared to perform their duties. Untrained workers will not know much about the definite goals of the company or understand how they can work to achieve those. So the more prepared the staff is, the more productive they are likely to be. Besides, employee training is also vital to incorporating new technology.

Robotic Process Automation not only streamlines the office environments, but it can also help administrators to standardize training activities. This, in turn, adds more value to the training process. Trainers can define the business goals precisely to the new recruits by simulating real-life scenarios and help them realize how their actions could lead to better results.

5. Multitasking

The concept of multitasking is simple – doing a number of tasks at once. However, researchers say that the human mind cannot actually handle “multitasking”. Humans only pay attention to different things simultaneously, “switching between them very rapidly.” This also means that a person, who thinks he/she is multitasking, “cannot focus on one while doing the other.” This means reduced productivity.

Multitasking and constant interruptions can also have many other negative effects, such as increased stress, reduced creativity, lack of focus, and over-stimulation of mental functions. Managing things like emails, push notifications, and repetitive data entry jobs using RPA tools can help to avoid such distractions and any need for multitasking. This way, employees can stay focused on their work and deliver excellent results.

Conclusion

RPA bots can be scripted in any way to perform everyday rule-based jobs that can be labor-intensive. The above-mentioned are just a few instances where Robotic Process Automation can help to improve employee productivity. Automation does not mean replacing the workforce entirely though but supporting the employees to be faster, better, and efficient at performing their duties. It is high time to adopt RPA solutions and be competitive in the industry.