According to a new study commissioned by UiPath – a leading enterprise automation software company – the majority of office workers are feeling increased pressure at work due to colleagues resigning in the past year. As a result, 43% of UK respondents say they would consider resigning from their jobs in the next six months. UiPath’s 2022 Office Worker Survey also found that monotonous tasks are amplifying employee unhappiness and uncertainty and that employees would welcome new processes and technologies such as automation to allow them to focus on work that matters.
The third annual UiPath survey of office workers uncovered the impact The Great Resignation is having on employees’ roles and responsibilities, career trajectories and overall experience. The assessment found that:
The Great Resignation is an acute business challenge
Around the world, office workers are feeling increased pressure at work because their colleagues are quitting. Alarmingly, 83% of UK respondents have had to take on up to six new tasks outside of their job descriptions due to their coworkers resigning – and 58% reported that they do not know what their responsibilities are anymore.
Labour shortages and mundane work are causing people to quit
Over two-thirds of global respondents (70%) say they are interested or could be swayed into looking for a new job in the next six months. Nearly one-third of global respondents are currently applying for another position. In the UK, that statistic is 24%. Globally, people are motivated to seek a new position because of increased pressure on work/life balance, spending too much time on administrative tasks and lack of training to develop or enhance new and existing skills.
Expanding roles are compounded by monotonous tasks
Nearly all UK respondents (90%) say they feel exhausted at the end of a workday at least one day per week. They’re frustrated by mundane tasks at work, such as responding to emails (34%), scheduling calls and meetings (29%) and inputting data/creating datasets (28%).
Office workers believe automation is core to improving their job performance and satisfaction
Consistent with UiPath’s Office Worker Surveys in 2021 and 2020, employees feel like much of their workday is eaten up by tasks that can be automated (48% of Brits feel this way).
In addition, 91% of global respondents believe that automation can improve their job performance, namely by saving time (52%), increasing productivity (46%) and creating opportunities to focus on more important work (45%). Just 71% agree they can focus on more creative work with the help of automation.
Automation can help fight The Great Resignation
Just under two-thirds of UK respondents (63%) contend that incorporating automation –including training on automation – could help their organisation attract new and retain existing talent. Business leaders are already on board, with 85% of those surveyed in the UiPath 2022 Executive Survey agreeing that incorporating automation and automation training into their organisation will help them retain employees and attract new talent.