Automation is changing the way people work and get rewarded

Learn what you should be doing now as automation changes the way people work and get rewarded.

According to a recent Bain & Company report 40 million jobs [25-30% of US jobs] will be automated within the next decade. White color jobs are not immune from outsourcing or automation.

That’s eye opening but technology has made the world feel a lot smaller since the dot-com boom. When I started my online training business in 2000, a healthcare CEO asked me where my colleagues were located. Everyone was scattered around the US. It seemed to make him feel uncomfortable, but even then high speed internet access enabled my development team to communicate and collaborate in real time.

The tools are better now but technology is also getting smarter. In 2009, I closed my online training business for two reasons:

1/ Much of the revenue cycle work and financial reporting in healthcare could be automated.

2/ The companies that needed a training program were more focused on extrinsic rewards.

Algorithmic Work:

Revenue Cycle work for the most part is algorithmic work or in other words, work that requires routine processing. At least 90% of revenue related transactions can be automated now if companies have invested in their systems. Old patient accounting systems that relied heavily on data entry as a source of information are now a liability because much of the information contained in them is dated and incorrect. There are better ways to obtain, use and store the patient data needed for transacting business.

Heuristic Work:

Automating revenue cycle transactions also changes the skillsets needed to manage the systems and do the remaining 10%. The work becomes less about routine processing and more about creative and analytical problem solving also referred to as heuristic work. Given the nature of the work, heuristic work typically cannot be outsourced or automated.

Motivation:

Many healthcare companies still rely on incentive based reward structures to motivate people to work. Productivity goals made sense when much of the work involved routine processing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work the same way for people intrinsically motivated by the work itself. In fact, “if then” rewards are often counter productive because it turns something that people enjoy doing into the drudgery of work. Worse yet, decreases in intrinsic motivation can lead to destructive behaviors.

Goals may cause systematic problems for organizations due to narrowed focus, unethical behavior, increased risk taking, decreased cooperation and decreased intrinsic motivation. ~Drive by Daniel Pink

Referring back to #2 of my reasons, companies led by people who are driven by immediate extrinsic rewards underperform over the long term simply because they underinvest in training, systems, research and development. Same is true for publicly traded companies who provide the most earnings guidance to Wall Street analysts.

Drive:

Drive by Daniel Pink is a book about Motivation that does a good job of connecting the dots of several leaders in modern behavioral research.

Extrinsic rewards are addictive particularly for type A personalities but at a certain point, they don’t make people happier. In fact, people driven by extrinsic rewards are more likely to feel anxious and depressed than intrinsically motivated people.

Three Ingredients of Intrinsic Motivation:

1/ Autonomy:

According to Tony Hsieh, founder and CEO of Zappos and author of Delivering Happiness, perceived control is an important component of one’s happiness. When performance goals are tied to compensation it becomes more about the money and less about the work. Plus when performance metrics are varied they are harder to finagle.

2/ Mastery: 

Tony Robins recently posted on LinkedIn “All my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” That’s mastery. It’s a lifelong period of effort to improve performance in a specific domain. According to Carol Dweck author of Mindset, the effort that it takes to master something meaningful [aka: pain] is what gives meaning to life.

3/ Purpose: 

The most deeply motivated people – not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied – hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves. There are some good examples in Drive of companies leading with purpose. One of which is Toms shoes and another good example not in the book is Patagonia.

For me, our online training program was about giving our students a career path to better job opportunities and a brighter future. That’s why I remained so passionate about it for so long.

So what do you need to do now:

1/ Figure out what type of work motivates you.

2/ Invest in your skillset rather than relying on your employer for training.

3/ Deliberately practice so that you improve.

4/ Identify your Why or in other words, your purpose.