Recruitment and staffing – how automation can help reduce the burden

Work patterns and the employee experience have changed dramatically because of Covid, with a substantial rise in home, flexible and hybrid working. This looks likely to be a long-term legacy of the pandemic, even as more people now return to the office at least on a part-time basis.

Long gone are the days of the 9-5 and the culture of bums on seats and presenteeism – the pandemic has changed that forever as it’s proven that remote work can, well, work very well.

Many employees are now seeking more flexible working hours and ways of working, and looking to find employers who cater towards this.

This evolution in the way we work was always bound to happen at some point, given the never-ending rise of the internet and digitalisation, but Covid has perhaps accelerated this by five or ten years.

The way we all work is undeniably evolving, with more younger people entering the workforce expecting high levels of digitalisation. There are also more gig workers to cater towards the ever-growing gig economy – think Uber, Deliveroo, and property management sites dealing with Airbnbs – and, because of Covid, more remote workers.

Traditional full-time office-based employment is fast becoming a thing of the past, but this in itself could cause problems for companies – including estate and letting agencies, and other property-based firms – who don’t adapt, change and move with the times. 

The role of automation

This transition can be eased by a greater use of automation, which can help with any staffing or recruitment issues that you may have. By stripping away the mundane, laborious, time-sapping tasks, the day-to-day admin that slows everything down, you can instead allow staff to focus on more creative aspects of their work, which are more likely to grow your business.

So, instead of needing to hire admin assistants or data entry clerks, you can instead create more skilled-based jobs that will help to take your company to the next level.

Automation can also help in supporting more flexibility, a remote workforce and the changing nature of work, by giving you the software and tech to ensure working from anywhere is a breeze – simple, accessible, transparent, secure and reliable.

The talent pool out there is now expecting more flexibility, more remote working and more understanding employers, so it pays for agents to meet this demand.

This’ll be rewarding for both you and your employees – a happy and content workforce, after all, is nearly always a more productive one.

You can also get ahead of the game for the next stage of the tech revolution, which is likely to be heavily focused on data and simplifying processes. Automation can help you achieve this in a number of ways and ensure staffing and recruitment issues – so key to the success of your business – are, like traditional forms of working, a thing of the past.

*Peter Grant is the chairman and CEO of Openview - Powered by VTUK