I could recall last month I was having a conversation with a colleague on why there’s need to centralize data gathering and storage at the federal level in Nigeria, and also automate certain processes in its many government offices. He was like “that would make some individuals work activities redundant, reducing job opportunities.” I thought about this for some time, and tried relating it to the current trend in the private business world where recently, young employees are quick to resign from their place of work whether due to economic downturns, certain dissatisfaction like: poor salary, bad working condition, work pressure etc., a situation that can significantly disrupt business operations. This has made forward-thinking organisation turn to automation to mitigate the impact of mass resignations on their business processes.
When a significant number of employees leave simultaneously, it can lead to chaos, understaffing, and a loss of business knowledge. Traditional solution will be to hastily hire replacements, but this approach may not be sustainable or efficient in the long term.
Automating certain business processes offers a strategic solution to help companies streamline their operations and adapt to mass resignations. One might ask, how does this work? Well, here are a few guides:
1. Streamlining HR Processes: By automating human resources processes, such as: onboarding, offboarding, and payroll management, administrative burden on HR teams can be reduced. It will also ensure critical task are completed consistently.
2. Knowledge Management: Implementing knowledge management systems like: weekly activity report, KPI analysis report, data entry review, to help capture and store institutional knowledge, making it accessible to the remaining employees. This helps bridge the gap left by departing colleagues.
3. Digital Communication Tools: Use digital communication tools like chatbots and automated email responses to handle routine customer inquiries, reducing the workload on customer support teams.
4. Self-Service Systems: Organisations can develop self-service systems that allows individuals access their business services, find answers to common questions, or provide relevant information without the need for direct interaction with the IT team or other departments.
Some benefits of automating operational processes in the face of mass resignations includes: reduce cost of immediate hiring, minimizes errors and delays in operational task, maintain business continuity, reduce stress for remaining workers due to increased workloads.
In conclusion, mass resignation of employees can pose a serious challenge to organizations, but proactive automation can mitigate the negative impacts. By optimizing processes, reducing the dependency on specific employees, and leveraging technology, companies can ensure that their operations continue to run smoothly even in the face of workforce disruptions.
