Automate to Elevate, commissioned by Sago, reveals the latest attitudes from UK workers towards remote working, technology, and the impact of automation on their working lives.

Amidst the growing ‘return to the office’ movement and concerns that remote and hybrid working may be detrimental to the workforce,  Automate to Elevate reveals that only 26% of UK respondents find it hard to connect with people virtually, and less than a quarter (23%) said that not being in the office at the same time as others hindered their ability to collaborate. 

Instead, the primary reason UK workers are unable to form strong relationships with colleagues is the volume of work and lack of time in the working day, not the location where they are working. Almost half (48%) said they would need an extra 30-60 minutes each day to prioritise relationship-building with colleagues. Additionally, 74% said that automation tools are part of the solution when it comes to improving employee connections at work.

“As organisations continue to explore what the future of work looks like, many have to take into consideration how they will foster an environment that allows UK workers to be creative, collaborative, and connect. It’s clear from the findings of the Automate to Elevate report that companies must provide the necessary automation tools that empower all employees,” said Stephanie Dwight, Vice President of Automation and Applications at Workato. “Acknowledging automation as a path forward for elevating work, people, and culture is crucial to the success of companies, regardless of industry or size. Now is the opportunity for leaders to invest meaningful time, resources, and money into their workers to better promote a sense of belonging.”

Key insights from UK respondents include:

• While many UK workers feel disconnected from their colleagues, remote or hybrid work is not the underlying problem: instead, it is the volume of work and the lack of time to spare in the working day. Only 26% of UK respondents said it was hard to connect with people virtually and less than a quarter (23%) said not being in the office at the same time as others was hindering their ability to collaborate.

• Increased time for meaningful work: Nearly 9 out of 10 respondents (87%) said automation saves them time. This is often represented in the work that can be a big, manual burden, freeing up time for meaningful, deep-thought work or collaboration

• Building workplace relationships is crucial: If they had one more hour in the day, almost half (46%) of respondents in the UK ranked spending it building relationships with the people they work with day to day as one of their top priorities. 

• Productivity and quality of work go hand in hand: Overwhelmingly, UK workers are seeing the productivity benefits of automation tools and the quality of their work is improving, too. Specifically, with the use of automation tools: More than 4 out of 5 (86%) people in the UK believe automation is part of the solution, freeing time for more complex work, and 85% believe it is part of the solution for improving productivity.

• Automation is helping bring teams together: Whether it’s for collaboration, connection, or innovation, 74% of UK respondents said that when it comes to improving employee connections at work, automation tools are part of the solution.

*Report from Workato®, the leading enterprise orchestration platform, today published

With independent market research from Sago, Workato surveyed 1,000 professionals in full-time employment, split evenly in the United States and the United Kingdom, about how automation opens up new pathways for relationship building, collaboration, and job engagement and satisfaction. Respondents represented every level at a company with 1,000 or more employees, with the majority of respondents from large enterprise-sized companies.