Assuming Productivity: Realizing the Benefits of Finance Automation.

• Author: Chiu, Georgi

There are numerous bodies of research surrounding workplace evolution (see McKinsey & Company's "Future of Work" and PvvC's "Workforce Transformation"). Most would advocate the use of automation, which shifts human resources to focus on creative deliverables and exception resolution processes. Researchers then describe a metric-based organization where job descriptions no longer define employee responsibilities. Instead, employees participate in cross-functional projects based on their skills to tackle problems yet to be solved by machines.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of robotic process automation. Software robot developers catapulted to stardom over the last few years. Gone are the days when finance professionals spend hours ticking off checklists, pushing through red tapes and processing repetitive transactions. Robots are taking over ... these mundane tasks with higher speed and accuracy. Now that the automation activities have gained momentum and matured, talent executives are excited to upskill employees and redeploy resources to collaborate on creative activities. New training platforms sprout and employees are encouraged to re-invest in learning to embrace the future of work.

Less mundane work means more time to train new skills, produce innovative analytics and partner with business stakeholders, right? Hold that thought. While finance executives are eager to report hours saved by each automation project, how does the newly gained capacity translate to productivity? Unfortunately, comparing transactional activities to creative deliverables is like comparing apples to oranges. Have you ever felt the sense of accomplishment and closure after an 8-hour day of processing transactions yet, after just two hours of a productive meeting, you felt exhausted and needed a break? To quote Albert Einstein, "Thinking is hard work." The reality of measuring creative output now seems a lot more complicated when layering in the internal struggles of self-debate that comes with collaborating with others.

The amount of energy spent on routine activities that rely on muscle memory is less than challenging the brain to develop new ideas, especially when there may be no spark after hours of debate. Mental fatigue can more easily lead to burnout, job dissatisfaction and employee turnover. So, what should managers do? More money? More hcadcount? Navigating creative productivity is new to finance executives that measure productivity by...