A recent survey on employee burnout and stress revealed that employees experienced a 21% increase in burnout between 2020 and 2021. They also shared that employees had a 17% increase in physical symptoms of stress like muscle tension, fatigue, and work-life balance challenges. This is important to note since one of the consequences of burnout is increased employee turnover. Having more employees quitting their jobs and recruiters filling the vacant positions will lead to more expenses on new hires and reduced productivity.
Therefore, retaining employees by prioritizing their mental health is one of the priorities of business leaders today. Human resources professionals can guide leaders with these issues by evaluating employees’ performance with data-driven strategies and analytics. With advancements in technology, human resources professionals now rely on technology to collect relevant employee data and compile reports for department leaders for review. Using these data, business leaders can identify where their employees are having difficulties and develop strategies to combat high turnover and improve the employee experience. Human resources professionals also use technology to identify and improve business processes to help achieve goals. An example is automating the organization of files for efficient retrieval of company information, which is good for alleviating employee stress and frustrations.
Apart from file organization, automating business processes can help employees and companies in various ways.
Here are three reasons why automation can reduce employee burnout:
Streamlines Administrative Processes
Automation can help companies streamline their business processes. Since some administrative tasks are repeatable activities performed in specific orders, computers or software can easily execute these tasks instead. For example, these tasks may include sending follow-up emails to clients or partners. If employee workloads are reduced due to automation, they can focus on more important responsibilities that work towards the company’s growth. This can also reduce stress and instances of overtime due to additional workload, allowing employees to have more time for their personal lives. Our previous blog post shared that disconnecting from work is necessary because this is when people can relax and recover from work-related stress. Being able to disconnect from work activities, albeit momentarily, can ultimately help lower levels of fatigue and job burnout.
Reduces Chances of Human Error
One of the benefits of automation is that it can reduce the chances of making human errors. This is especially important for industries where mistakes like miscalculations can greatly impact the company. For instance, pharmaceutical companies value precise amounts of ingredients in each product to avoid overdose and ensure product quality. If one batch of drugs is flawed, it can result in delays in production since the whole group will be disposed of and recreated. This results in additional costs and loss of productivity. For jobs that require consistent, accurate results, this can become a source of stress for most employees. Automating some tasks will consequently lower the risk of making errors, which also decreases the pressure and stress employees experience at work.
Lessens the Pressure of Micromanagement
Some managers may not realize that one of their habits, such as micromanaging employees, is indirectly detrimental to the company. Although micromanagement may have its benefits, this behavior is considered by employees as a form of distrust. Employee surveys on micromanagement revealed that 79% of respondents experienced micromanagement. Moreover, 69% said that this made them consider quitting their jobs. Besides increased turnover rates, micromanaged employees will feel more stressed and pressured at work, which may lead to burnout. If companies automate employee management responsibilities, the need for close supervision is minimized. This is because automation ensures that employees are notified and aware of their responsibilities without human involvement. As a result, employees can do their work in a more relaxed environment.
Article written by Reena Jamieson
Exclusively for summit-success.com