Technological advances continue to transform the business environment. Businesses want better bottom lines, and employees want rewarding jobs that they enjoy. Automation can help both groups, but how do companies build the trust required with technology to make that happen?
Building a beneficial relationship between humans and digital tools like #automation takes trust. The introduction of automation is going to have an impact on the working life of people in a business. Because of this, creating trust between people and machines is critical for the success of a company that wants to make its business better with digital tools. But how is it done? Let’s show you.
How Has Employee Trust Been Broken?
To be able to mend broken bridges and rebuild trust between people and machines, we first need to understand where and why trust has broken down so far.
The pandemic and the expansion of remote working have accelerated trust issues between people and digital tools. Building connections has been hampered by a lack of face-to-face interactions, and now employees have to communicate through chat channels and often poor video calls to build their relationships.
People are also frequently monitored by automated tools that track their keystrokes and mouse movement to ensure that they are actively working and being productive. This really damages employee and employer trust and does it through the medium of an automated tool which hampers the acceptance of other digital initiatives.
With business leaders worried about productivity with distributed teams, they’ve increasingly looked to automated processes so that tasks aren’t missed. This has often been done with consultation with employees and nothing more than quick team updates to advise them of changes that have already been made.
People really struggled with finding out that some of their jobs have been taken away without any notice because they either worry they aren’t trusted to do it, or worse that their job is being slowly taken away till they’re left with no tasks and are made redundant.
How Can Trust Be Rebuilt?
There are two simple steps to rebuilding trust between your people, your digital platforms, and your business leadership.
Transparency
Being honest about the reasons that you are doing things. That doesn’t mean just the cold, hard numbers you’re trying to improve. Have the human side of why automation is so good as part of any discussions. Be honest about how it can make work more fulfilling for staff.
Open dialogue
Employers and employees need to share an open dialogue as significant technical changes occur that impact their daily working lives. When employees understand why a tool is being adopted and how it will help their job, they are more likely to get on board. Plus, no one likes to find out about something after it’s already happened. Keep your people in the loop.
Above Anything Else
People are the lifeblood of every business. Whether it’s staff, customers, or suppliers – they’re all people. Trust between all these people is critical to the success of a business, and so it makes sense that everything that supports them, digital tools like automation included, need to form part of that trust circle.
Need help building trust in your automation? PAteam can help; speak to us today.
