Before Coronavirus came and disrupted our world, most people were used to working in an office setup. But forward-thinking organizations had accepted the fact that telecommuting was inevitable. Then the pandemic came and tested our collective strength and determination. More people started working from home, and it became our way of life.
Currently, about 4.7 million employees are working from home in the U.S 3-4 days a week. 77% of remote workers also say they are more productive when working from home.
While there have been peaks and valleys as employees work from home, the overall impact has been good. Telecommuting has many benefits for both employees and employers. Companies can hire better talent, reduce office space, and cover more time zones. Employees can also take higher-paying jobs outside their geographical zones, lower their commuting expenses, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Sure, remote working has its own set of challenges, but with the right workflow automation tool, every team member knows what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, and when it needs to be done. A simple flowchart can outline tasks and subtasks within a project that need to be worked on. Workflow automation tools optimize processes and make the result more effective and impactful.
How Workflow Automation helps you to keep up your Energy?
It Boosts Productivity
Most employers worry that their employees’ productivity will suffer as they work from home. How will team members be managed? How will they stay focused? Well, research has shown that the nature of work has a direct impact on productivity. People tend to be more productive when working on creative tasks than when working on dull tasks.
A workflow automation tool can manage the tasks workers consider dull and allow them to work on more creative tasks. It can automate processes like supply chain ordering and execution, financial and operational reporting, and expense audits. Once a workflow has been created for such tasks, team members can focus on the tasks they enjoy–and their productivity will eventually improve.
It Allows Employees to Manage Their Time Better
Some people waste time browsing Facebook and Instagram instead of working on investor projects and writing committee reports. Yes, employees do want to be productive, but time-wasting activities are very enticing. Most employees admit to spending a lot of time on activities that aren’t related to their work. While team leaders can keep everyone on track in an office setup, it’s simply not possible when everyone is working remotely.
A workflow automation tool can help remote workers to manage their time better. It can help them to prioritize important tasks and have a clear routine. Team members can practice efficient time management, like work reporting, time tracking, and project & task management.
It Improves Team Engagement
According to a past study, 85% of employees are not engaged at work. They show up, work for 8-9 hours, then go back home without contributing their best ideas or work. Finding and retaining top talent is hard, but what’s even harder is keeping that talent engaged at work. And failing to do so can be costly–companies lose millions of dollars when employees don’t give their best.
When team members have the freedom to collaborate through intuitive and innovative technologies, they work together and maintain a cohesive business vision. Automation tools have a key role in promoting collaboration in the modern workplace. For example, teams can seamlessly share content like files and folders during virtual meetings. This ability to work together and truly collaborate benefits the company and each member of the team. Everyone gets involved and shares their ideas and knowledge, and this enhances workplace satisfaction.
Whether automation eliminates the time required to manually update IT systems or makes meetings more straightforward, it should have one aim: to streamline employees’ work. When employees spend less time on repetitive tasks, they have more time to focus on other challenges. Organizations seeking to embrace automation must understand one thing: automation will transform business operations, but empowered employees will transform it more.
It Increases Trust and Transparency
Transparency in the workplace helps create a positive company culture and solidifies employee loyalty and engagement. Transparent companies have greater levels of employee engagement and advocacy. Those that aren’t transparent make employees feel underappreciated. They are apprehensive about their future and doubtful of the practices in place and the decisions made by those in authority.
Automated reporting and status updates let employees know where the company is headed. They are not left in the dark about project budgets and updates. When a company automates its reports, especially financial reports, there is less room to cover up mistakes. Increased transparency results in better business decisions–there’s no room for illegal or unethical behavior.
Final Thoughts
It’s never too late to adopt workflow automation. If some of your employees–or all–are now working from home, identify the challenges that keep cropping up. Where is work being held up? Are employees confused about how to get things done? Do they lack access to the information? After you identify the challenges, the right workflow automation tool will help you in eliminating these challenges and enhance the employees’ productivity along with the overall business as a whole.