Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a form of technology used to automate tasks by building a robot that initiates, performs, and completes a series of tasks as coded and directed with or without human intervention.
Some of the tasks that RPA can perform include (non-exhaustive):
Screen scraping and syntax transformation of information;
Integration with Microsoft applications (such as through populating data in Excel and emails in Outlook); and
Collection and organisation of datasets.
RPA is non-invasive and can be rapidly implemented to accelerate digital transformation – something that most businesses face and desire. The implementation of such technology helps to streamline workflows, making organisations more profitable, flexible and responsive. Additionally, RPA also increases employee satisfaction, engagement and productivity by removing the mundane tasks from their responsibilities. Some specific RPA software include UiPath, Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism.
RPA in HR
Increasingly, firms are seeking ways to automate HR processes through the use of technology and artificial intelligence. In the long-run, automation can help to reduce manpower costs through time savings in performing menial and repetitive tasks; increase efficiency of work and reduction in human errors, of which all complements the departmental objectives of streamlined work.
RPA in HR operations primarily works by having the software robot perform high-volume and repetitive operational tasks for HR employees. These tasks include onboarding of new hires, payroll processing, enrolment of benefits, and compliance reporting that require a significant amount of manual and repetitive labour.
Benefits of RPA in HR
1. CV Screening & Shortlisting Candidates
RPA makes the screening of resumes simpler by easily gathering the applications and comparing all the information against the list of specific job requirements. These requirements can be seen as predefined rules which guide the overall selection procedure. Using the database that keeps all the potential employees’ profiles, RPA in HR can categorise and notify all candidates of their application results.
2. Onboarding Process
Integrating RPA in the onboarding process helps to reduce onboarding process costs as the robots will be able to take over the tedious manual and repetitive processes, and automatically transcribe information from various sources into multiple systems.
It also increases the overall onboarding processing speed by automatically validating new hire data and entering the same into different systems. Error rates in HR onboarding processes can also be significantly reduced by accurately updating personal and account information across multiple systems to facilitate fast processing.
3. Payroll Processing
Payroll processing can be simplified as RPA collects and connects the data between multiple systems such as HR and employee management, time tracking, accounts payable, and general ledger. RPA in payroll processing can also show if there is a high number of registered hours, overtime, missing hours, or excessive usage of timeout that has occurred to further simplify the payroll processing.
Challenges in using RPA
As HR is still a human-centric department, certain HR roles can never be automated completely, such as in leadership development and talent acquisition. Frequent changes in operating procedures that require human intervention, as well as the costs needed to upkeep the automation system would also be factors for businesses to consider.
Overall, the realm of HR will undoubtedly undergo dramatic changes with the introduction of RPA along with other technological advancements.
What are your thoughts on RPA? Will you welcome these changes to the HR industry with open arms? How should companies seek to balance their reliance on RPA and human capital?
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