More than two-thirds (67%) of office workers worldwide feel they are constantly doing the same tasks over and over again, with 71% of Singaporean respondents wishing parts of their job was automated, according to the 2021 Office Worker Survey report from UiPath.
Conducted in March 2021, the poll covered 4,500 office workers across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, and Singapore.
Findings showed that two-thirds of Singaporean respondents felt they were doing the same tasks repeatedly at work with inputting data, scheduling meetings and drafting emails top of their wish lists of tasks to be automated.
Faced with too many time-consuming tasks to complete, 59% of office workers around the world, and 57% of office workers in Singapore, believe they cannot efficiently help customers.
When asked the top tasks they would like to automate, Singapore workers mentioned emails (50%), inputting data/creating datasets (63%), and scheduling calls and meetings (54%).
“Automation unlocks workers’ productivity, and, more importantly, frees them to focus on meaningful work that is creative, collaborative, and strategic,” said Tom Clancy, SVP of Learning at UiPath. “It’s critical that companies provide training for and access to automation and other digital technologies to create more fulfilled and energized employees.”
The survey also revealed that automation is being more widely adopted by firms, with 40% percent of global respondents saying their employer increased investments in automation software in 2021. India and Singapore had the highest rates of companies scaling their existing automation software, totaling 51% and 44%, respectively.
Also, automation training improves job performance, with 44% of respondents having received automation training within the past year, and of those, 91% believe that it has improved their job performance. In Singapore, these were 41% and 89%, respectively.
Further, upskilling is key to keeping pace with digital transformation as 65% of respondents believe it’s possible their jobs will evolve in the next 10 years, and 76% of workers believe upskilling opportunities offer job security.
In Singapore, 85% of workers indicate they learned new skills while working from home during the pandemic, and more than half (60%) report that their skillsets have improved during this time.
Among Singapore employees, 86% want their employers to invest in tech skills training and 82% would be more willing to work in a company that offered such training opportunities.
Singaporean employees are ambitious, with 77% wanting to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) and 75% feeling that obtaining skills in AI will help further their career.
