Robotic process automation may sound like an impersonal way of doing business. After all, it boils down to using machines such as software robots, to mimic repetitive human actions and to fulfill the tasks faster, more accurately, and in a more secure manner.

But there’s more to it than that. Starting the automation journey in your company empowers both your employees and your customers.

Employees no longer have to carry out routine, monotonous tasks, like migrating raw data between Excel files, because software robots can do it error-free, more productively, and more efficiently.

Your team is therefore clear to engage in more valuable jobs that leverage human-specific abilities such as creativity, complex decision making or communication skills, and, consequently, their level of job satisfaction increases.

This is the main rationale for using robotic process automation to increase employee retention since talents are less likely to leave jobs that involve less drudgery. Your team will also have greater flexibility and time to engage with customers and, as a consequence, to provide higher-value, more empathic customer service. This, in turn, improves customer satisfaction. This is why RPA is your competitive advantage.

From this perspective, UiPath’s motto should come as no surprise: “We make robots so people don’t have to be robots.”

In fact, RPA may be precisely what allows corporations to go beyond the image of cold, heartless, and faceless entities. When your employees do not have to spend long hours copy-pasting data or doing payroll administration, it is a lot more likely that they will attend customers with greater care, thus improving customer experience.

How robotic process automation increases employee retention

According to Martin Weis, EMEIA Robotics Leader, EY, repetitive tasks are a key reason why people give up their jobs, which, in turn, calls for up to 30% hiring annually simply to renew the workforce.