Employees embracing workplace automation report greater job satisfaction and increased productivity, according to a recent survey of EMEA firms conducted by ServiceNow.
The study highlighted that organisations that have automated various menial tasks have witnessed better job satisfaction (62 percent), customer satisfaction (71 percent) boosted productivity (72 percent) and increased time for creativity (62 percent).
In addition, the ServiceNow report also noted that increased digitisation and automation in the workplace have enabled employees to improve their opportunities for advancement (64 percent) and focus on more meaningful work.
“Highly automated companies are making use of digital workflows to simplify complex tasks, respond rapidly to users’ needs and take a predictive approach to maintenance,” says Chris Pope, VP Innovation, ServiceNow. “Automation enables employees to reclaim time spent on unfulfilling tasks and refocus it on more meaningful work. The result is significantly greater efficiency, productivity and job satisfaction compared to companies with more manually-led operations.
However, the study also found that fewer than one in three (27 percent) of companies have automated the processes with which they work, leaving over two thirds of work processes with substantial manual activity.
ServiceNow also found that employees worry more about change than fear of machines. The study noted that there has been much rhetoric around ‘fear of machines’, yet employees studied worry more about change than robots taking their jobs with 31 percent being concerned about learning new skills or processes and 28 percent worrying about changing the way their job is performed. However, only 17 percent have expressed concerns about losing their job.
Employees in highly digitised companies report they benefit from increased job creation (42 percent) as opposed to only 23 percent in less automated companies, according to the study.
A majority of surveyed employees (81 percent) expressed optimism about AI technologies and viewed them as the future of work.
Furthermore, employees in ‘highly automated’ organisations are more likely than those with less automated processes to report that their firms have high revenue growth, exceed financial goals and are much more profitable than competitors. 55 percent of those in highly automated companies reported to have witnessed higher profitability than their competitors, compared to only 31 percent in less automated companies
Additionally, 36 percent of highly automated companies report that they exceeded their financial goals compared to just 16 percent for others.
“Activities such as resolving customer issues are critical to customer and employee satisfaction, so they should receive more focus from an automation standpoint in the future. The question businesses need to be asking now is how they can make the necessary changes to realise these benefits,” said Pope.
