No matter the business model that is being operated or the workplace structure, getting work done is always a fundamental focus of every business owner or manager. However, in this digital age, new technological trends, as well as external factors, are changing the face of work and how things get done at work

The introduction of new technologies such as process automation, artificial intelligence, virtual, augmented reality, and so on are forcing never-before-seen changes in the modern workplace. At the same time, external factors such as a new remote/hybrid work culture are redefining how work is organized and executed.

Given these realities, what exactly does the future of work look like, and how does one build a sustainable and productive workplace based on new facts?

New Realities of 2022

The year 2020 was a remarkable year for all sectors of the economy. For businesses worldwide, the year forced a rethink of the existing work culture and provided a glimpse of what work could look like in the future. In 2022, we are seeing a post-pandemic workplace propelled by human resourcefulness but also rapidly morphing to make room for less dependence on human efforts alone.

Although technology had already become an integral part of work for most organizations before the pandemic, an increasing number of companies and individuals are starting to see the need to augment human effort with machines in the wake of new realities. The focus these days is less on what employees can do but more on how companies can expand their capabilities through technology.

Challenges Faced by Companies in 2022

There’s no doubt that we are currently living through one of the most significant workplace disruptions of recent times. The challenges organizations have had to face in the past two years have necessitated the need for various changes to keep up.

For instance, in the wake of the pandemic, companies had to switch to completely remote work models. And even though the days of total lockdowns are behind us, a lot of organizations have had to reinvent how they get work done by formalizing the hybrid and remote models that they worked with at the height of the pandemic.

Some companies also had to let workers go and cut work hours, with many operating 3 or 4 days work-week to reduce the wages they’d have to pay. To ensure that they still get work done in such scenarios, many organizations have turned to various technological tools as a matter of urgency.

Workplace Automation - The Key to the Future of Work

Historically, in periods of uncertainty, businesses often have no choice but to redesign work processes and adopt automation to maintain productivity. The go-to strategy in this new future of work is to reduce the number of hours workers spend on routine tasks through workplace automation.

According to a 2020 survey by Mckinsey, two-thirds of the 800 executives interviewed revealed that they were increasing their investment in automation and Artificial Intelligence in order to increase productivity in the post-pandemic workplace.

To reduce workplace density, demands and maximize the available workforce, many companies have had to deploy automation tools. In most cases, these automation tools are deployed not as a means of replacing human efforts but as a way to improve their efficiency.

The Essentials of Workplace Automation

To put it simply, workplace automation is transforming how work is done and contributing to increased productivity in the modern workplace. At the same time, it addresses some of the organizational and social challenges that resulted from the global pandemic.

Workflow management software will transform the nature of work as more systems are built and deployed to carry out tasks that would naturally be done by humans. But these automated systems are not here to replace humans per se. For the most part, they’ll only complement their work and help them perform routine tasks better.

Not all aspects of an organization’s operations can be automated. And even for those that are candidates for automation, certain things are more automatable than others. Highly predictable and repetitive tasks such as data collection and processing are the most notable areas where automation will be most relevant. Of course, since tasks like this are present in all departments across all sectors, it means there is no industry where automation cannot be adopted.

Still, tasks that involve people management, interfacing with stakeholders, and other tasks that involve actual human connection are less susceptible to automation. So while automation will affect almost all occupations in the workplace in the future, contrary to popular belief, only about 5% of occupations will be fully automated. For many others, only portions of their responsibilities will be automated. The workers of the future will work alongside rapidly evolving technological systems to improve workplace efficiency and deliver better results.

Automating Employee Management - A Case Study Of MultiPro

MultiPro is a financial management company that serves professionals in various industries. Since their services were not classified as essential, the company was one of those forced to adopt a remote workplace culture at the height of the pandemic. The system gradually evolved into a hybrid format as the situation improved.

One of the challenges that the company faced with most of its workers now working remotely is people management. Managers had a hard time keeping up with their day-to-day managerial tasks since they could no longer interact with employees physically.

Managing teams, assigning tasks, managing issue escalations, approvals, reporting, and other administrative tasks started to experience bottlenecks: this stifled productivity and overall performance.

The solution to these issues was to deploy a system that puts all the managerial tasks in the same place and automates them. This provided better visibility to create workflow and promoted faster completion of tasks.

With time, more than 30% of managerial tasks were set on autopilot leading to greater productivity and better performance. The company hopes to automate up to 65% of administrative tasks in the coming years, freeing up more time for managers to focus on other productive activities.

Conclusion

Since the industrial revolution, the introduction of new technologies in the workplace has always sparked significant shifts in corporate culture. In the same way, today’s workplace is remarkably different from what existed several decades ago. Only organizations that can envision technological transformation and deploy new systems in time will be able to keep up and stay productive in the workplace of the future.