Signs It’s Time to Automate Your Workforce Initiatives, Part 4: Q&A
Q. Why automate your workforce initiatives?
A. Because every time you automate, an angel gets its wings.
Okay, granted, we don’t know for certain whether that’s true—but here are a few things we do know about automation:
- It saves time.
- It reduces manual errors.
- It helps you onboard, retain, and engage your employees.
- It holds every member of your workforce accountable for understanding and following the same rules and standards.
- It transforms every component of your programs into simple, repeatable activities.
- It provides your organization with the data and oversight to close compliance gaps and continually improve results.
In terms of positive outcomes for your people, policies, and processes, it’s hard to overstate the power of automation. It may or may not grant flight to angels, but it can certainly elevate your organization’s performance and bottom line.
That said, every organization has unique factors to consider when implementing and optimizing business process automation. Once you have a general idea of when, why, and how to automate, the next step is creating and following an automation strategy for your workforce.
At Compli, we can help you do just that. We work closely alongside every client to develop a tailored automation solution that minimizes costs and maximizes performance and efficiency. To get a sense of the kinds of things organizations consider—and what Compli can do for you—take a look at a few common questions and answers about workforce automation:
Q. Where’s the best place to start with workforce automation?
A. You need to identify where you have the biggest burden or risk, and start working from there. Wherever you have risk, are spending the most time, or feel like you don’t have enough visibility, that’s where you should start.
Companies often start with onboarding because it impacts almost every compliance program. Recently, we’ve also seen an uptick in queries related to harassment, discrimination, and other issues associated with the #MeToo movement, as well as new requirements in states such as New York and California.
Q. I’ve been using Compli for years for onboarding and harassment. What should I do next?
A. Again, the first consideration should be risk. We’ll look at where you’re spending the most time, or where don’t have sufficient security or oversight, and then we go from there.
But risk isn’t the only consideration. On the flip side of is opportunity—to save money, to streamline your operations, to make your employees’ lives easier, and so on. Your company may benefit from automating data security, for instance, not because it’s a big burden for you, but because your insurance broker will give you a discount if you have the right pieces in place.
Another area of opportunity is employee development piece. Through automated processes, we’ve helped numerous companies provide their middle managers (and sometimes, senior managers) with the skills and tools they need to lead people more effectively and efficiently.
Q. How do you make sure your employees are actually using the automated system?
A. Organizations have a number of different ways to do this:
- Dig into reports. An automated system gathers a great deal of information—don’t let it go to waste. With reporting functionalities, managers can dig down and monitor workforce metrics on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and then use that data to make adjustments—from organization-wide changes down to incentives at the individual level.
- Check the tone from the top. Visibility throughout the organization doesn’t mean very much without support from the top. An automated system should hold executives and other members of leadership accountable for the same rules and standards as everyone else. Leadership should also take reporting data into consideration when making and communicating decisions.
- Play into employees’ competitive nature. We’ve seen plenty of organizations use automated systems to stoke (friendly) competition between departments or locations. When people see that another group is performing better than they are, they become motivated to catch up, while those in the lead will do what they can to stay in the lead.
- Reward, punish, or use a carrot-and-stick approach. Some organizations reward their people for completing tasks and achieving high scores within the automated system—e.g. through parties, monthly or quarterly bonuses, and so forth. Others take punitive measures to motivate their employees. Still others do both. Whichever approach you use, you don’t need to rely on subjective measurements or gut feelings. Remember: the data in your automated compliance system is the objective, detailed scorecard for everyone within your organization.
As we mentioned above, these are only a few of the questions to ask when implementing an automated workforce compliance system. If you’re ready to see how automation can transform your organization, Compli is ready to help. Bring your questions our way—our experts have answers.
