This is a discussion topic for the original post at Python RPA can replace tasks, but not people: understanding the automation culture - Botcity | Blog
Culture change causes several types of impacts in a company and they can be positive or negative. And applying automation culture to any team, whether with Python RPA or any other tool, is one of the reasons that can affect people the most because it brings the fear of losing their job.
And what impacts does this fear have?
This fear generates behaviors that do not help the evolution of the processes. The people who were previously responsible for them do not share correctly how these processes work, or refuse to explain how the process is executed manually in their daily lives. They believe that if they open up the information, as soon as the robot is built and running, they will be fired by the company.
And this can cause the automations to be built in the wrong way and even cause bigger problems in the actual processes.
But what is RPA, really?
RPA is a technology that was not born to replace people, but to facilitate the execution of manual or repetitive activities, automating them with the support of robots built with tools or programming. And these activities can be:
- Completing forms, documents or spreadsheets;
- Generate reports from these documents or spreadsheets;
- Generate invoices;
- Mailbox management;
- Data transfer between different systems;
- Among many others.
And that doesn’t mean that people will be replaced?
Unfortunately this can happen in some companies. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Automation, in fact, can bring several benefits not only to companies, considering the better use of their employees’ hours and productivity, but also to people.
Robots have the power to make something very precious possible: time. And that time can be used to:
- Tasks that are more complex and require other types of skills, such as something that requires us to make decisions, for example;
- Training for new responsibilities that were not possible before because of the time spent on manual activities;
- Achieving new goals, even career goals;
- Among others.
If the automation benefits are real, why are people so afraid of losing their jobs?
There are several possible reasons:
- People may not understand how RPA will work and how it can help in their tasks;
- Insecurity about their abilities because they can think that “if a robot can do it for me, then they don’t need me here”;
- Responsibility changes when your tasks are automated, which can be quite challenging if not done with company support and guidance;
- Lack of communication to understand how automation will affect their routine at work and even their career prospects.
And what the company can do?
It is important that companies, especially the people who manage the teams or people who make the decision to use RPA, involve their employees in the automation process and prepare them for the changes that will happen.
This can be done by offering training and opportunities to acquire new skills and explaining where they can best apply their abilities, such as more interesting tasks that need our ability to make decisions, to create, to solve problems, to deal with people, among many others.
Are you thinking of applying RPA in your company? I hope that these tips have helped you to reflect and understand how to deal with this change of culture and the fears of the people in your team. Try it out and bring us your feedback. It is always valid to share experiences.