Collaborators Have a Role to Play Towards Automation

A tight labor market and a shortage of specialized talent have forced companies to consider accelerating their automation ambitions to circumvent the risks of talent scarcity amid a pivotal transformation period. As companies look to shorten their automation roadmap, education campaigns, internal coordination and change management were considered the most indispensable risk management considerations, according to industry leaders. 

“Organizations across all industries are struggling with retention problems and operational disruptions. Fortunately, automation can bridge talent gaps and power business operations,” said Erik Severinghaus, EVP of Business Development, Conexiom.

Prolonged talent gaps have created a sense of urgency among company executives who increasingly fear their organizations are falling behind as the digital transformation consolidates. Irrespective of the industry, business entities, from startups to enterprises and corporations, all have been afflicted by the talent shortage. A 16-year high deficit has resulted in a reduced working capacity, operational disruptions, decreased competitiveness, minimized innovation capacity, decreased morale and high turnover. Even though this has mobilized industry leaders to defer enhanced recruitment and retention efforts to their CHROs to augment, Mexico’s labor market simply does not have the talent needed to satiate demand. 

“Some years ago, between 50 and 54 percent of companies faced issues to attract talent, and the number went up to 75 percent, according to ManPower Group. “This means that academia, schooling and preparation have failed to cover the industry’s demand,” said Lissy Giacoman, CEO & Co-Founder, Vinco.

In response, company executives and CHROs have found it necessary to expedite their automation ambitions, “a decision that has naturally engendered fear and resistance among collaborators,” said Olivia Segura, Consulting Partner for Human Capital and Talent Management, KPMG. In other words, culture is currently the greatest barrier to the adoption of automation technologies for many organizations. However, “This can easily be abated through education campaigns in which they can imagine their continued participation alongside these technologies,” she said. Consequently, organizations should consider offering upskilling and reskilling programs aligned with the skills that will be needed to direct and manage these technologies, thus transforming collaborators from bystanders to stakeholders during this process. 

“Automation will not mean the substitution of the human factor but rather should be used to make processes more efficient and as support,” said Alejandra Allard, HR Director Mexico & Colombia, Bristol Myers Squibb.

Furthermore, given their proximity and interdependence on other departments for business processes, “It is imperative that collaborators inform and participate in an organization's automation strategic development,” said Allard. Essentially, decision-makers should be relying on collaborators across departments to identify where current business practices and processes are most opportune for automation applications. Their collective perspective will grant executives the visibility needed to rethink workflows with the support of automation technologies prior to investing. To coordinate intelligence, large companies especially would benefit from starting the “planning of change-management frameworks for their employees,” said Eduardo Mouret-Polo, General Director, PRODEHO. 

This proximate transformation will place weighted pressure on CHROs to keep pace with adjacent departments, especially customer-facing arms that often receive the greatest allocation of funds to automate. While this is ultimately a CEO decision, companies should be careful to ignore their HR departments, which often still rely on manual processes given that they risk disenchanting their collaborators and potential candidates expecting their HR experience to be equally frictionless and easy, said Segura. Therefore, the automation of HR practices has the potential to be an important differentiator.