Is Your Organization Prepared for the 2023 Labor Crunch?

Job market instability worsens as economic volatility increases and a recession looms. Leading indicators point to serious labor considerations as we close Q1. Layoffs have begun in some industries while shortages persist in others. Thought leaders such as Gartner recommend automation and a move to digital workers to ease headcount concerns and help organizations prepare for the 2023 labor crunch.

Tech Industry Lay-offs signal economic slow down

We have all heard rumors of a recession in 2023. The lay-offs that started in the tech industry are beginning to spill over into other industries, says Business Insider.  

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed a 14% increase in layoffs between Dec 2022 and Jan 2023. Professional and business services, including the technology industry, were the hardest hit with 528,000 jobs lost in January alone.

High inflation and the shrinking job market are indicators that economic volatility will continue.

Whether your industry has already been hit, or you are still ahead of the curve, now is the time to plan.  

How Automation can help ease the 2023 Labor Crunch

Applied strategically, automation creates greater stability in a volatile job market. Insulating companies against: 

• Budget squeezes demanding layoffs 
• Labor Shortages 
• Low Employee satisfaction driving poor retention 

The modern workforce is upskilling, changing careers to experience new challenges and opportunities for growth. According to a Forbes Insight survey, 92% of organizations see an improvement in employee satisfaction as a result of automation. 

Quick to value automation solutions are available to relieve workforce tensions even as pressure mounts.

Speak to a member of our team about adding digital workers to your organization.

Improve Employee Retention by Creating the Modern Digital Workplace

In their Feb 2023 report The US Chamber of Commerce breaks down the ‘The Great Reshuffle’ in the labor market that began during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and has continued into 2023. 

The Reshuffle is causing employers to focus on workplace culture as they experience record problems with employee retention.

Labor market and economic conditions have changed significantly, and the impacts of a global talent crunch are driving escalating wages and costs. Now more than ever, there’s a premium on employee retention

– Gartner

Reserving robotic work for robots is the clear path forward in the modern workplace. Automating repetitive computer-based tasks frees your human staff to solve bigger problems, learn new skills, and take better care of the customer. 

Healthcare and Manufacturing, two of the hardest hit industries, are both prime candidates for automation programs. Both require tracking time sensitive information that must be highly accurate and reconciled across multiple systems. We have helped companies in both industries increase productivity and employee satisfaction by automating these repetitive tasks. Employing digital workers to create FTE (full-time equivalent) outcomes, can fill empty seats and ease the workload on human staff. 

When responding to pressing labor trends, speed to deploy and time to value are key elements in any new automation program’s success. We understand the results driven realities businesses are facing and have adapted with them. RPA as a Service allows us to simplify the IT and technical setup needed to start an RPA program. WonderBotz Prebuilt Solutions cut development time and get industry proven solutions into production fast.

RPA Case Studies for Health Care and Manufacturing

Maintaining productivity in a decentralized work from home world

Covid made work from home an option that the modern workforce is hesitant to give up. The flexibility and comfort of working from home must be balanced with the tracking and productivity metrics that make companies comfortable with this lighter touch management style.  

Gallop found that 91% of U.S. workers hoped they could continue working some of their hours from home, and three in 10 workers signaled they would seek new employment if they were recalled to the office.  

GENIE’s Employee Enablement Accelerator gives managers a window into the work lives of their staff.  Detailed productivity metrics including idle time, tasks completed, and software used can be tracked across individuals, work groups or departments.

This technology can also be applied to outsourced teams. Intelligent tracking allows companies to verify outcomes rather than just activity. With GENIE managers can see the percentage of time team members spend on meaningful work and which teams are completing tasks most efficiently. Tracking both your human team and your digital workforce GENIE shows the efficiency gains across your organization as your botz take on more work. In our Digital BPO offering it enables continuous Automaton Discovery, finding new automatable tasks and process improvements, making your digital workforce more effective over time.

Weathering Layoffs – Keep your best people and increase business velocity

Whether employing automation to support your existing staff or automating whole department workloads to stay ahead of labor shortages, digital workers could be the answer.  

The crunch to do more with less happens in every period of volatility. Starting your automation program now can keep you ahead of the curve as budgets restrict. Avoid painful layoffs by increasing capacity through low-cost digital workers.

Let us show you how.