What is workflow automation?

When you automate a workflow, it means that tasks you previously had to manually complete are now completed by a self-operating process. Workflow automation tools usually come in the form of an application or computer software that employees can access via the web or as an application that they can download.

There’s a good chance that you’re already using automated workflows for some tasks already, such as scheduling an email to send at a particular time of day, or an email campaign that’s set to be delivered to a mailing list. You might have an automatic email that you send to customers making an inquiry. 

How can workflow automation help?

As workflow automation helps to turn laborious, time-consuming manual tasks into ones that don’t need a person to check them, it can help speed up your processes.

It means that your employees are likely spending less time on repetitive, individual tasks. This frees them to complete more urgent tasks that can’t be automated, such as handling meetings, dealing with clients face-to-face or solving more complicated problems. Automated workflows therefore help you to organise your time more effectively.

Other benefits of an automated workflow include:

• Reduction of human error;
• Increasing morale by reducing repetitive tasks;
• Helping to combine processes, reducing gaps;
• Improving communication between teams.

Workflow automation is therefore particularly useful to HR departments who are looking to improve the efficiency of their own processes. Below are some examples of where they might find this effective. 

Examples of workflow automation for HR departments

HR teams – whether they’re working in an office or remotely – usually have workflow management systems currently in place. This might become more difficult if you are managing teams that are working remotely and you can’t notify them about any changes face-to-face. 

HR workflows include any tasks that your HR team usually deals with. Your HR team’s workflow will likely depend on the size of your business, as well as the specific needs that you need to address. Smaller companies may deal with fewer onboarding needs, but might be looking to automate some of their project management processes. 

Onboarding employees

You might not want to automate the entire process of onboarding an employee, but automating some of this process could improve efficiency for your HR team. Onboarding automation involves automatically assigning an onboarding schedule for a new employee, or sending them a generic email providing them with a starter pack for joining. This could include a welcome note, an introductory policy guidebook and contact details for relevant senior staff. 

You can also automate the process of sending out surveys to recently onboarded staff, so you can find out how effective the process has been. Rather than having your HR team send emails to every new employee you’ve onboarded, automation can help make this process automatic. 

Offboarding

While many employers pay attention to their onboarding process, you can also create an effective offboarding process as well using automated workflows. HR teams can automate the process of sending out checklists to employees who are leaving the company to make sure that they are returning the correct items, like company laptop or uniform. That way, there’s less chance that HR teams will have to chase up any forgotten items. 

Payroll

Instead of manually reviewing each payment made to employees, an automated payroll system helps to keep track of payments, including whether any pay needs to be held back for tax purposes. Some automated payroll tools can also be used to keep track of paid time off and overtime using a calendar. They might also offer employees the ability to insert their own personal information as well.

This means that your HR team doesn’t have to assess an employee’s payment every time they need to be paid, instead this process is automatic. An automated system here means that there is less scope for human error, meaning that employees are potentially more likely to be paid on time and for the correct amount.

Surveys

In general, it’s possible to automate the process of sending out surveys to employees. This is particularly useful to HR teams who are looking to gather information on employee engagement and satisfaction. By automating the survey delivery process, HR teams are better equipped to provide employees with regular surveys. By doing this, they are in a position to gather information on an ongoing basis without spending time on manually sending out each survey.

Employee leave management

As your HR team are likely looking after the process of employee paid leave , automating this process can help speed things up. Instead of having your HR team manually decide whether it’s possible for an employee to take paid leave, some automated workflow tools can automatically decide for you when or whether it’s possible to approve a request.

Project management automation

Workflow automation can help you create more effective workflows within your HR team as well, particularly when it comes to project management. Your team might have a meeting to discuss possible pain points within their project management processes and how automation could be brought in to help solve them.

Workflow automation can be a good way to make sure that all of your team members are in sync regardless of which project management tools they’re using. For instance, you can use workflow automation to make sure that your team members are receiving the same messages, such as making sure that messages from one project management tool are sent to an employee’s email account as well. 

You might also use workflow automation to automatically notify an employee when a deadline is coming up, or if a deadline has changed. Some automation tools can also be used to tell employees when a task has been assigned to them. 

Challenges with workflow automation

While workflow automation can be a great benefit to any HR team looking to speed up processes and potentially reduce the risk of human error on repetitive manual tasks, there are some pitfalls that are worth considering as well. 

The first challenge is getting a team to adopt new automated processes in the workplace. Some employees might be more resistant to change –  particularly when it comes to technology – and so might be slow to adopt new automated workflows. The worst case scenario is that you find employees quitting because there are too many major changes to the way that they are used to doing things.

One way to tackle this is to make sure that your employees receive adequate training in how new automated workflows work, so that they understand how they work. This also might help them to see how they can make their workflows more manageable. 

Secondly, some employees might have concerns about providing automated workflow tools their personal data. When it comes to automated payrolls for example, some employees might be (rightfully) concerned about data theft from criminals. Therefore, it’s worth making sure that any automated workflow tools your company uses come with security features as well. 

Employees might also have difficulty integrating their pre-existing workflows into the new automated workflow. If you plan to introduce an automated workflow, consider discussing the possible outcomes of doing so with employees first to make sure it really is the best solution to their needs. 

Workflow management can be improved in many instances by automation. When it comes to HR processes, there are many options to choose from like payroll or onboarding automation. However when it comes to effecting change, it’s worth considering the possible implications and challenges of automating a workflow, such as change resistance, security concerns and problems with integration.