Dive Brief:
- A majority of workers are not only unafraid of robot colleagues, they welcome them, according to a survey from Epicor Software Corporation. That may be good news for employers looking to automate work in the wake of the skills gap, Epicor noted.
- A majority of the respondents, 54%, believe automated workers take on repetitive and mundane tasks they would have to perform themselves. And roughly a third said they believe robots are more efficient than humans.
- More workers already are finding themselves working alongside robots, according to the 2,500 respondents of the survey: 31% say AI, automated machinery or actual robots are common in their daily routine. Thirty-two percent, however, said there is no automation in their workday at all.
Dive Insight:
Automation is predicted to increase or at least maintain headcount for the majority of businesses for the foreseeable future. Companies will be working hard to upskill employees into more complex work as the routine, repetitive tasks are delegated to technology. In fact, AI may even help in retraining workers workers for the more complicated work that cannot be performed with automation, or those tasks that require a human connection.
The challenge for business will be to prepare workers. Only 5% of employers say they're ready, even as the use of automation adoption grows in the U.S. workforce.
For organizations working to upskill employees for the tech revolution, training for soft skills like adaptability will be a priority for L&D professionals. And as businesses ready to use new tech like augmented reality, training may remain the number one investment to prepare employees for the jobs of the future. But L&D professionals appear to already know this, as they report that they're optimistic about their own future of work.
