The Future of Work: Automate the Tasks That Drain Your Best People
7 min read
·
Feb 6, 2022
Executives today face a pressing question: what should we automate with AI first?
The temptation is to start with the biggest, most strategic processes. But the smarter move—the one that unlocks immediate value and long-term cultural impact—is to automate the repetitive, high-effort, low-creativity work.
In other words, the tasks that make employees sigh before they even begin.
Why Start With the Energy-Draining Work?
Every company has them: tasks that eat up hours of time, demand high effort, but contribute little to creativity or strategic growth. Data entry. Reporting. Manual scheduling. Reformatting documents.
Employees complete them, but the cost is hidden: energy depletion. After grinding through repetitive work, people have less bandwidth for the creative, strategic, and collaborative efforts that actually move the business forward.
The impact compounds over time. If organizations don’t automate this layer, their best people will quietly start looking for companies that do.
We’ve Seen This Movie Before
This isn’t speculation—it’s a pattern. Consider sales. A decade ago, some of the best reps began refusing to work at companies that didn’t use Salesforce. Why? Because the lack of modern tools meant wasted time, inefficient processes, and lower productivity.
The same shift is coming with AI. Soon, across every role, the question will be:
“Does this company use AI to automate the boring stuff?”
If the answer is no, attracting and retaining top talent will become an uphill battle.
Automation as a Talent Strategy
This is about more than efficiency—it’s about employee experience.
Retention: Talented employees want to feel their work matters. Automating repetitive tasks signals respect for their time and skills.
Recruitment: Just as Salesforce became table stakes in sales, AI automation will become a baseline expectation across industries.
Engagement: When employees can redirect energy from low-value tasks to creative, impactful work, their engagement—and output—rises.
Insight: In 3–5 years, companies that don’t automate the mundane will be seen as outdated. Employees won’t just prefer AI-powered workplaces; they’ll expect them.
How to Identify the Right Tasks to Automate
Start simple. Look for work that is:
Repetitive – Tasks that occur daily or weekly with little variation.
High-effort – They consume significant time or energy.
Low-creativity – They don’t require critical thinking, problem-solving, or original insight.
Examples:
Generating routine reports
Sorting and tagging customer feedback
Drafting meeting notes or summaries
Scheduling and follow-up emails
By targeting these first, organizations free up capacity without disrupting core workflows.
The Energy Equation
No one wants to feel like a robot could do their job. Automating repetitive work flips the equation: employees keep the energy-depleting tasks off their plate and channel that energy into higher-value contributions.
When teams are energized, they’re not just more productive—they’re more creative, collaborative, and loyal.
Closing Thought
AI adoption isn’t just about productivity gains. It’s about creating workplaces where employees feel valued, energized, and free to focus on work that inspires them.
Executives who prioritize automating repetitive, high-effort, low-creativity work will see the payoff not only in efficiency, but in talent retention and culture.
The future of work is simple: let the robots handle the robotic tasks.
