The majority of office workers are feeling increased pressure at work due to colleagues resigning in the past year.
This is according to a new study by UiPath, which found that as a result, 43 percent 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 percent of UK respondents have had to take on up to six new tasks outside of their job descriptions due to their co-workers resigning—and 58 percent reported that they do not know what their responsibilities are anymore.
Labour shortages and mundane work are causing people to quit:
A staggeringly high 70 percent of global respondents 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 percent.
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:
An extremely high number of 90 percent of UK respondents 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 Office Worker Surveys in 2021 and 2022, employees feel like much of their workday is eaten up by tasks that can be automated (48% of Brits feel this way).
Also, 91 percent 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%). Seventy-one percent agree they can focus on more creative work with the help of automation.
Automation can help fight the Great Resignation:
Crucially, 63 percent of UK respondents 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 percent 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.
The next steps
“Workers around the world are feeling the stress and strain of labour shortages in very personal ways, and without a shift toward more meaningful work, businesses will continue to face productivity and competitive pressures,” says Chief People Officer at UiPath, Bettina Koblick.
“While this issue is complex, technologies like automation can free workers’ time, enable a better work/life balance, and create vastly improved efficiencies that allow business to be agile and responsive to customers. The world of work has changed and retaining and attracting workers with the aid of emerging technology is a business imperative,” adds Ms Koblick.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
