Is your AP department working on monotonous, repetitive and labour intensive AP tasks which have to be completed over and over again throughout the day? Those working on these types of boring manual processes are now known to be suffering from work ‘Boreout’. In this blog, find out how Esker can help to turn this around with automation.
As the global economic turmoil continues to challenge even the most positive of people within the Accounts Payable (AP) department, the ever-increasing difficulties of feeling totally overworked has already seen many people ‘burnout’.
As the work pressures continue to build within AP (increased workload under the same working conditions and practices) there now seems to be a new concern with those working on monotonous, repetitive and labour intensive AP tasks which have to be completed over and over again throughout the day. Those working on these types of boring manual processes are now known to be suffering from work ‘boreout’.
So what does this mean for those workers suffering from ‘boreout’ and what are the effects upon the AP department and the company as a whole?
Well, according to the Udemy Workplace Boredom Study1, those bored at work are causing decreased productivity rates for an organisation, leading to higher costs, fewer growth opportunities and having a negative impact on company culture.
How can you spot if your AP Team are bored and stopping your company from being as productive as possible?
There are four key areas:
1. Manual Data entry
The majority of tasks performed by the AP department is repetitive, such as manually entering data and invoice verification. This means more opportunities for mistakes to be made and even greater errors due to peak periods such as month-end closing.
2. Invoice Approvals
When manual AP processes involve the same task to approve invoices then this quite often leads to lost invoices or delays in approvals. This can then lead to disagreements with suppliers which can further induce yet more stress to an already overworked department.
3. Matching Process
Incoming invoices need to be matched with the corresponding POs and goods receipts. However, this process quite often involves multiple different departments taking a long time to complete. Should the sales increase, then the volume of work will too. This leads to possible new team members having to be taken on and trained by existing members, who are already exhausted by trying to manage their own monotonous workloads.
4. Performance Indicators
The number of invoices that contain PO references, reception methods, or other KPIs like Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) remain obscured when undertaken by tedious manual, paper-based processes. The repercussions of this means depriving staff from understanding their own performance, and thus not being able to identify in what ways they can improve their personal development, in achieving a better performance. Also not knowing the performance of the business as a whole, can cause problematic repercussions.
So what can be done?
Well, quite simply, these boring, repetitive and manually intensive paper-based processes can be automated.
Automating the many AP processes within an organisation can bring the real focus back to what leads to the success of the business – its employees!
Automation shouldn’t be seen as a way to replace workers completing monotonous tasks, but rather a way to enable them to spend more time on helping those that are most important to the business surviving and thriving – its customers!
So how can automation help?
1. Eliminates the boring AP tasks
AP automation speeds up the AP process and reduces the errors of some of the most common of AP tasks. This leads to AP staff becoming free from the mundane tasks that cause ‘boreout’ and have more opportunities for internal skills to be enhanced and to make advances in their careers.
2. Using analytics to empower your team
With intelligent dashboards, real-time KPIs can allow AP teams to produce their own metrics with customisable reports. This can enable a more strategic view of tasks and actions required to further empower them in their daily activities.
3. Nurture collaboration
Online supplier portals and mobile apps let AP staff converse more easily internally (with colleagues) and externally (with suppliers), freeing up time for higher value tasks within the AP department.
So, although the AP processes can be fraught with tasks that are tedious and time consuming, leading to boredom and feeling underwhelmed within their roles, automation can be the key to giving them the opportunity to rectify this, quickly and easily.
From eliminating boring tasks, understanding key metrics more clearly and being able to concentrate on more value-added tasks, AP teams can feel a greater sense of achievement, empowerment and satisfaction.
You can read more in our eBook: Beating AP Boreout: How to re-engage your team with automation
1 2016 Udemy Workplace Boredom Study, Battling Boredom Blues: How to Engage Today’s Workers. Udemy for Business (2016).
