By automating repetitive processes and digitising paperwork, workflow management does a lot of the heavy lifting that can otherwise drown your business operations teams.
For instance, workflow management software can run manual tasks – such as invoicing, expense claims, and employee onboarding – in real time, which reduces overhead, human error, and workload for your teams.
But workflow management software improves other areas of your organisation too – aside from business ops – that aren’t as tangible as hours saved or number of mistakes avoided.
And that area is employee engagement.
Here’s why good workflow management makes a difference to helping employees feel engaged:
How workflow management helps improve employee engagement
There are several ways that workflow management software enables you to activate engagement in your teams, including:
- Reducing busywork to allow employees to focus on meaningful projects
- Improving internal comms and automating the feedback process
- Boosting employee wellbeing thanks to streamlined HR workflows
Let’s take a look at each of these individually:
Reducing busywork to allow employees to focus on meaningful projects
One of the main reasons why organisations will install workflow management software is to save time. With automation taking care of the manual and monotonous tasks, it relieves your staff from doing it themselves.
With all that extra time available (three hours a day according to a recent study) your employees are free to work on tasks that bring value and meaning – which are essential to improving engagement.
Workflow management software handles the manual tasks for you
Indeed, research by Automation Anywhere, which looked at workplaces that had invested in automation tech, revealed that staff were 38% more engaged than those working in organisations that hadn’t. Why? Because the tech freed staff from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on creative and strategic work instead.
Simply put, when employees work on tasks they enjoy, they’re happier, more motivated, and better engaged.
Improving internal comms and automating the feedback process
An engaged employee is one who feels in-the-loop with company news, organisational knowledge, and their performance.
On the other end of the spectrum, lack of clarity and transparency in your internal communications can lead to disengaged employees. By not communicating well with your teams, you imply that they can’t be trusted or should only be privy to information on a “need-to-know” basis. Lack of ongoing feedback on their performance also leaves staff feeling directionless.
Turn this around by using automation tools – which are part and parcel of workflow management software – to streamline your internal comms and make it easier to give regular feedback.
For example, content publishing tools such as intranet news allow you to schedule posts in advance and target communications company wide, whilst collaboration spaces give teams the opportunity to have open discussions that will foster a transparent company culture.
Use collaboration spaces to promote an open company culture
Dedicated polls and surveys software simplifies the feedback process and ensures that staff receive regular updates on their performance, as well as giving them the opportunity to share any concerns.
For instance, rather than sending an annual employee questionnaire – which offers no real insight – you can schedule frequent surveys to get a pulse on staff sentiment, understand their current workload, and offer any support.
By removing any barriers that stand in your way to effective communication and feedback, automation helps you motivate employees and nurture engagement within your teams.
Boosting employee wellbeing thanks to streamlined HR workflows
On the surface, you might assume that automating your human resources workflows would create an unempathetic and uncaring work environment.
In reality, it’s quite the opposite.
By using workflow management to automate laborious tasks such as managing leave requests, ordering office supplies, and processing expenses, your HR team can reduce the paperwork and admin that claims so much of their day.
Doing so enables them to focus on tasks that require qualities which only humans possess – empathy, care, and compassion – which are vital to making employee engagement thrive.
No longer weighed down by repetitive or manual tasks, your HR teams can instead channel their efforts into creating workplace initiatives that support employee wellbeing, such as mental health awareness or return-to-work programs.
Workflow management also enables HR teams to automate parts of the employee onboarding process, such as induction training, welcome packs, and contracts. This ensures that nothing gets forgotten in your new starters’ journey into the company, and enables HR staff to be a point of contact for personal matters that require the human touch.
