There is a myriad of reasons to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Regardless of the business or industry, there are always tedious tasks that can be automated. Whether it’s data entry, payroll, employee onboarding, invoicing, helpdesk support—cutting down the time spent on manual tasks massively benefits companies.
- Improved employee satisfaction: Automation tools can help team members focus on more meaningful tasks.
- Simplified customer service: Automation gives your customers access to more level 0 support.
- Fewer costs: The more tasks that are automated, the less manual operational costs your organization will incur.
However, once companies get on a roll of automating tasks and experiencing benefits, there’s another crucial step that organizations should take: reskilling their team.
Reskilling your workforce.
When you bring RPA into the picture it’s easy to release your team members from the tedious tasks. It gives them the opportunity to focus on work that they’re excited about. However, RPA also gives companies the opportunity to teach their team members more higher-order thinking that humans are certainly better at.
Reskilling: The process of learning new skills and/or training people to do a different job.
According to a recent study by McKinsey, 66% of businesses surveyed viewed reskilling as a “top-of-mind priority” in the age of automation. Reskilling and retraining team members is definitely a challenge that takes dedication and planning. Depending on the area of expertise you’re reskilling your team in, there are many ways to go about it. However, the benefits of investing in your team are consistent across the board and extremely beneficial for business.
Increased productivity.
Sixty-four percent of respondents in the same McKinsey survey said the main reason they were willing to invest in retraining was “to increase employee productivity.”
While RPA eliminates the dead weight of manual processes, reskilling takes the extra time in your team’s day and amplifies the type of work they can perform. Not only are they working on more meaningful tasks related to their actual job descriptions, but they are exposed to higher-purpose tasks that they’ve never tackled. Reskilling your team gives them a clear view of career advancement, which gets them excited about what could be next.
Employee retention.
Thirty-eight percent of executives in the McKinsey survey shared that “aligning with our organization’s mission and values” was a key reason for reskilling.
Everyone knows that searching for a job is a job in and of itself. When companies invest in the growth and improvement of their employees, they’re creating a positive culture. A culture that supports employees and makes them feel like an integral part of business will see less turnover. Invest in your team and your team will invest in you.
New talent.
Word of mouth travels faster than ever before. There are entire sites and platforms dedicated to exposing the internal practices and cultures of organizations. In this paradigm, team member reviews can quite possibly make or break a company’s talent acquisition efforts. The increased quality of work from RPA will boost your org’s public image and ultimately attract more talent.
Pro Tip: RPA will also enable you to automate much of the onboarding you’ll need to facilitate with the increase of applicants.