Overcoming the Great Resignation Using Intelligent PSAs

Data indicates that an unprecedented number of employees have quit their jobs voluntarily since the early 2020s. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that over 47 million workers have left their workplaces voluntarily in America alone. This mass exodus is being called the Great Resignation — a phenomenon that began with the onset of the pandemic. Burnout, reduced employee engagement resulting from the abrupt shift to remote and hybrid workplaces, and organizational aversion to using scalable technology and automation solutions are fueling the Great Resignation. Many employees are reevaluating their prospects amid abundant job opportunities with higher remunerations or reinventing their careers by upskilling and reskilling. 

This employee-driven churn has caused serious concerns among industry insiders, intensifying the frantic race to acquire and retain talent. As a result, enterprises are scrambling to make substantive changes to their employee value proposition (EVP) to position themselves as attractive workplaces to discerning candidates. 

In addition, companies are integrating technology to boost operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. They’re leveraging technologies like automation, machine learning  (ML), and tech integration to create a connected employee experience, which is integral to their critical initiatives. Organizational focus on technology-based solutions such as Professional Services Automation (PSA) tools has increased with the rise of hybrid and remote workplaces.

Organizations are also hiring remotely, so a change in the larger operational model is underway. Organizations need new workflows and operations-side plans to manage new workplaces efficiently. To create these new plans, they need modern AI & ML-powered systems to automate the workflows that manage projects, resources, budgets, and historical data. 

How Organizations Can Leverage PSAs to Stem the Great Resignation

PSAs are great tools for automating tasks, understanding resource utilization and several other initiatives that are directly linked to the success of any business. But they are emerging as equally potent tools for creating lasting employee-employer relationships and stemming the ongoing talent drain.

Here is how PSAs can help: 

1. Enhance Resource Utilization

Employee burnout is a genuine challenge that has contributed immensely to the Great Resignation. Managers and leaders have difficulty getting daily updates and organizing in-person catch-ups when working remotely or in hybrid setups. As a result, they are unclear about their team’s bandwidth and don’t know what tasks their team is working on.

With reduced visibility, decision-makers are more prone to over-burden or under-utilize resources, which impacts profitability and employee productivity equally. Under-utilization of resources can impact revenue, and over-utilization can overburden workers, further lowering their engagement levels. This inefficient resource allocation can drive employees to seek new opportunities. 

Smart PSAs enable efficient resource management as they can locate resources better, allowing leaders and managers to make prudent decisions while enhancing productivity and profitability. An advanced PSA tool provides business leaders with a solution that does the heavy lifting – analyzing real-time data and delivering live recommendations on the best possible resourcing allotment. In addition, decision-makers can avoid inefficient resource allocation by assessing resources’ engagements and skills. A data-driven approach benefits all stakeholders. 

2. Improve Employee Engagement

The Great Resignation has lent a renewed focus on employee engagement. Enterprises are assessing their established standard operating procedures (SOPs) for employee engagement, as they are not equipped to manage workers’ expectations in the new workplace environment.

PSAs are critical to this process as they help improve resource coordination and task visibility. They also aid in process automation and help data move freely through the organization, both of which are critical to addressing challenges like collaboration and real-time visibility.

Using technology such as PSAs is also a statement of intent and demonstrates a corporate commitment to creating viable future workplaces. Thus, AI and ML-powered PSAs are excellent tools for creating future-forward workplaces that engage talent sustainably. 

3. Make Companies Future-ready With Tech-driven, Modern Systems  

Organizations often underestimate the negative effect legacy systems have on productivity. Outdated systems can increase stress levels and create a more taxing work environment. While companies aren’t oblivious to the impact of aging technology, they may fail to notice that their systems have become outdated. For example, large-scale customizations made over many years to a legacy ERP system can result in a tool that is complex, inefficient, and slow. This kind of challenge is a major obstacle for companies that desire agility. Data crunching to gain real-time business insights is equally a bottleneck.

Thus, employees working on legacy systems are often forced to undertake repetitive, bandwidth-consuming, and mundane tasks. Organizations can use PSAs to automate those tasks and help channel employees’ talents into rewarding and engaging activities.  

4. Real-time Insight With Cloud-based Systems 

Remote and hybrid workplaces are here to stay. Therefore, cloud-based PSA systems are essential for companies to allow them to successfully transition to sustainable new-age workspaces.

Cloud-based PSAs have many advantages. They are highly configurable, scalable, and global. They allow teams to access all the data they need, stored safely in the cloud, while in the office or on the go, and on different devices, such as desktops, laptops, and mobile phones. This allows teams working from different locations to stay in sync and ensures they are always on top of their deliverables and that business-critical initiatives do not suffer. 

Plus, cloud-based PSAs are scalable, so enterprises don’t have to worry about how they’ll store, access, and manage increased data if their teams expand.

5. Facilitate Remote and Hybrid Working

Organizations need to offer flexibility to their employees. This means they require tools that can help workers perform their tasks seamlessly from any location. Also, collaboration with colleagues and a feeling of connectedness are vital for employee morale. PSAs are tech-based tools that enable seamless collaboration that helps reduce the challenges associated with remote work.

Using a PSA can enhance employee experience and thereby help attract and retain talent amid the ongoing ‘Great Resignation.’ This kind of technology is even more critical for smaller, more agile firms. Their ability to assimilate new technology, like automation and PSA tools, can help nurture a high-quality employee experience that gets institutionalized with time, helping small companies maintain their standards as they grow into larger firms.  

6. Enable Companies to Focus on Upskilling and Reskilling Initiatives

Today’s workforce is more familiar with technology, and they expect digital readiness from the companies they work for. They also expect support in continuous upskilling and reskilling. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report validates their expectation as data indicates that over 50% of all employees globally will need reskilling by 2025. Companies are recognizing this need and are focusing on employee skill acquisition through financial support and access to online study materials.

However, employees need time to make use of these resources, and companies cannot expect workers to upskill and reskill beyond office hours. Therefore, employees must be given an enabling environment and the time to engage in these rewarding activities.

Using PSAs indicates that companies are keen to relieve employees of mundane activities, leaving them with more time to engage in more productive assignments. Therefore, AI and ML-powered PSA tools are intrinsically linked to upskilling and reskilling initiatives. They underline the organizational desire to invest in creating sustainable new-age workplaces, complete with automation and data-based insights, which is a great value proposition for employees seeking a long-term association. 

Polaris PSA: An AI & ML-powered Solution

There is a growing realization that integrating technology is the first step and not the final solution to pandemic-related challenges. The compartmentalization of teams that work in silos has created unique issues for companies. They lack a single source of truth for project, revenue, and resource management. In addition, this new reality has made harnessing and managing data a tedious process, escalating costs.

Polaris PSA uses AI and ML to offer real-time visibility into important metrics, streamlining resourcing, financials, and project information and giving an up-to-date, live view of the business. Teams can leverage historical and real-time data using this intelligent PSA to quickly adapt to changes and make instantaneous decisions.

There is no denying that these are uncertain and disruptive times. However, disruptions also catalyze change. A company’s long-term trajectory will be determined by how well they meet heightened employee expectations to create genuinely disruption-proof entities that keep employee well-being at the forefront.