HR Process Automation, Administrative Workload and Individual Performance: The Mediating Role of High-Value Time and Job Satisfaction - A Qualitative Study within an IT Multinational in Morocco

Abstract

In Morocco, the digitalization of support functions is accelerating: recent sector data indicate that the share of Moroccan companies equipped with a human resource information system (HRIS) rose from about 22% in 2020 to 41% in 2025, and 36% of Moroccan firms now report being engaged in HR process digitalization (Kertys, 2025; Phénicia Conseil, 2025). Within IT multinationals, this dynamic translates into the rapid deployment of workflows, electronic signatures, and ticketing systems. While these tools are often presented as efficiency levers, their effects on users' actual administrative workload and on individual performance remain insufficiently documented, in the absence of an integrative theoretical framework explicitly linking automation, workload, available time, satisfaction, and performance.

This article examines the extent to which HR process automation transforms perceived administrative workload and the reallocation of time toward high-value activities (learning, continuous improvement), and how these transformations affect job satisfaction and individual performance. The study adopts an interpretive qualitative approach based on six semi-structured interviews (two HR managers and four employees) conducted within an IT multinational operating in Morocco, analyzed through thematic analysis.

The findings show that automation does not eliminate administrative workload but transforms its nature: it reduces repetitive data-entry tasks while introducing new demands for supervision, compliance control, and exception handling. This workload shift, more pronounced among managers than among employees, conditions the effective reallocation of freed time toward learning and practice improvement, which in turn is associated with higher job satisfaction and better perceived individual performance. The study thus proposes a sequential reading of value creation through HR automation, anchored in the Job Demands-Resources model, extending the information systems and organizational behavior literature by making explicit the intermediate mechanisms often left implicit.

JEL Classification: M12, M15, O33

Paper type: Empirical Research