K. Vanoirbeek
Digitalization Expert
Automation is not about replacing people. It is about freeing people from boring, repetitive tasks so they can focus on work they are actually good at. A different perspective on digitalisation.
When automation comes up, the first reaction from many employees is: "Are we going to be replaced?" It is an understandable worry. But the reality at the companies we work with is exactly the opposite: automation makes people more valuable, not redundant.
What does automation take off people's plates?
The tasks that get automated are almost always the tasks people enjoy least: retyping invoices by hand, copying reports from one system into another, sorting emails, confirming orders. Work that drains energy without adding anything creative or human.
- Data entry and transferring data between systems
- Repetitive reporting and status updates
- Routine customer communication such as confirmations and reminders
- Manual approval flows for standard requests
- Scheduling and calendar management for recurring tasks
What do people get back?
Once those repetitive tasks disappear, room opens up for what people genuinely contribute: strengthening customer relationships, solving creative problems, thinking strategically, coaching colleagues and improving products or services. These are precisely the tasks machines are not suited to.
At a consultancy with 12 employees, automation freed up an average of 9 hours per employee per week. That is 108 hours a week the organisation now invests in customer contact and strategic work. Customer satisfaction rose by 22% in six months.
How do you get your team on board?
The key to successful automation is transparency and participation. Involve employees from the start. Ask them which tasks they would most like to let go of. Explain what the automation does and what it delivers. Give people a role in testing and improving the new processes.
Employees who understand the process and have a part in it become ambassadors for the change rather than sources of resistance.
A real example: what changes for employees?
At a manufacturing company with 45 employees we automated the order entry process. Two administrative staff previously spent three hours every day retyping orders from emails into the ERP. After the automation they spend 20 minutes checking the exceptions. The remaining 2.5 hours per person now go to customer service, proactive contact and quality control. Both employees described it as "finally having time for the work that really counts".
How do you recognise automation that benefits people?
Not every automation is a good automation. The best ones share three characteristics: they take over work people dislike, they give people more time for customer-facing work, and they reduce errors and frustration instead of creating new problems.
- Good automation: sending email confirmations after an order or a booking
- Good automation: syncing data between systems without manual intervention
- Good automation: generating and sending weekly reports automatically
- Poor automation: replacing customer conversations entirely with chatbots
- Poor automation: delegating complex decisions to an algorithm without human oversight
Automation and job satisfaction: the numbers
Research by McKinsey shows that 60% of employees working in highly automated environments report greater job satisfaction than before the automation. The key: they gained more interesting work, not less work. Companies that introduced automation without reinvesting the freed-up time in meaningful work saw the opposite effect.
Automation as an investment in people
The most successful digitalisation projects are the ones where the technology fades into the background and the people stay in the foreground. Software doing the background work, people doing the meaningful work. That is the philosophy behind every project we take on.
Frequently asked questions about automation and employees
- Do employees get laid off after automation? Not in the projects we guide. The time that is freed up gets reinvested in better work, better service and growth.
- How do you support employees through the transition? Through participation (a real say in the process), transparency (explaining why), training and a clear role in the new way of working.
- What if employees are reluctant? Resistance is nearly always a sign of poor communication or uncertainty about the consequences. Invest in support first, technology second.
- Do employees need to be technical to work with automation? No. Good automations run in the background. Employees only see the results and the exceptions.
- How long before employees embrace the new way of working? On average four to eight weeks to full comfort. Intensive training tailored to your setup shortens that period considerably.
Curious how automation could support your team? We always start with a conversation about the people, not the technology.
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