Many employees fear that automating their tasks will lead to workforce reductions. The data, however, shows something entirely different: robotization eliminates repetitive activities, improving employees’ overall well-being. Employees can devote the time saved to more complex tasks and acquiring new skills, which helps improve the company’s market position. How does robotization affect the workplace?
Workplace robotization has been progressing for many years. Just as steam engines did in the nineteenth century and diesel engines in the twentieth, workplace automation directly affects employees and company operations. As with earlier technologies, the most visible effect is the acceleration of the entire process. An increasing share of tasks is performed by algorithm-controlled machines that do not tire and can operate at a constant level of efficiency for long periods. Another area that automation clearly improves is efficiency, both that of employees and of the company as a whole. Machines and applications often remove the most tedious tasks from daily duties, improving productivity. With
RPA (Robotic Process Automation), a company can reduce its operating costs. This also improves employees’ QoL (quality of life). Is there anything to fear in such a situation?
Will robotization take people’s jobs?
The shortest answer to the question above is: it depends. The fact is that robotization can no longer be stopped. Technology is developing exponentially, making automation processes unavoidable. This may create risks, but it will also force changes in business models and in the way companies operate generally. It is an exaggeration, however, to claim that automation must automatically mean enormous job cuts. It is more likely to reorganize workplaces, allowing people who previously performed the most tedious and exhausting duties to take on more creative work. This can be seen in RPA processes implemented by many companies: they do not lead to
job losses. Assigning boring tasks to robots allows employees to develop their skills and redefine their role within the company. A further argument for retaining jobs, and even creating new ones after automation, is the simple fact that robots still need supervision. Some processes cannot be fully automated, so human intervention is quite simply necessary. Nor can it be ruled out that automation and the release of employees’ potential will lead to even greater technological development, which may create new jobs.
How will employees experience the effects of robotization in their workplace?
Robotization is one of the most widely used methods of improving employees’ QoL. The arrival of machines made it possible to eliminate most of the physical work that previously had to be performed. Robotization should be viewed in a similar way: it eliminates a significant share of the most repetitive tasks, improving work efficiency and reducing the time required to complete them. It may therefore increase employees’
free time, which the company can use, for example, by sending them to skills-development training. It is also important to remember that shorter but more efficient work releases the potential of the people employed by the company. That potential is often suppressed by the need to perform repetitive activities, leading not only to physical but also intellectual fatigue. This, in turn, can result in burnout, with disastrous effects for both the affected individual and the company: a burned-out employee performs duties carelessly and poorly.
How does eliminating tedious activities enable employees to grow?
A key aspect of workplace automation is making employees’ work easier. This can be achieved not only through RPA but also by investing in various forms of training and courses. It also gives employees an opportunity to prepare for the changes ahead. They may initially be reluctant to embrace new solutions, so explaining that automation makes life easier is crucial when implementing this type of technology. Automation reduces the effort and working time required to complete certain processes. It can be introduced not only in production but also in departments such as HR. Research shows that using
RPA in HR can reduce the time required to complete particular tasks by as much as 40%. Assigning tasks such as processing sick leave, onboarding, and updating payroll to robots and applications allows HR employees to handle work that cannot be reduced to an algorithm. It is worth noting that the HR department plays an enormous role in helping other employees adjust to the changes brought about by automation. It is responsible for explaining that their quality of life will not deteriorate and will most likely improve. Once implementation has been handled properly and employees have been prepared for change, they can quickly become accustomed to the new solutions and propose new ways to improve how the technology works.
Summary: how will employees’ QoL improve?
In the simplest terms, automation makes employees’ lives easier. Robotization in business is widely discussed because it not only improves efficiency and reduces operating costs, but also makes a substantial contribution to helping people work better, for less time, and more creatively. It must not be forgotten that all automation processes involve implementing advanced tools which, despite their sophistication, often cannot cope without human intervention and supervision. There is another relationship between work and robotization. Robotization simultaneously reduces and increases the amount of work that needs to be done. It reduces it by removing the most physically and intellectually exhausting duties from employees’ daily lives. It increases it by making it possible to address products, processes, and tasks that were previously ignored or postponed. This may improve the efficiency of the entire company. Robotization may also increase the amount of work available because it makes employees more creative. They may consequently devise a new product, service, or technology. For these reasons, automation can substantially improve employees’ QoL, which may contribute to a significant improvement in the company’s market position.
