Dive Brief:
- A report by WorkMarket, a workplace automation firm, found that 90% of the business leaders and employees surveyed believe that automating parts of their jobs has advantages, such as cutting down on mistakes. 2020 In(Sight) Report: What AI & Automation Really Mean For Work examines the viewpoints of employers and workers on artificial intelligence (AI) and automation's effect on the workplace.
- The report shows that 52% of business leaders are interested in automation compared with 29% of employees. But while 41% of workplaces are using automation technology, only 13% are using AI tech, and 74% of both business leaders and employees think at least some of their jobs could be automated.
- A key finding in the report notes that 70% of business leaders said that 10% to 40% of their time is spent doing mundane tasks that aren't core functions in their job description.
Dive Insight:
Higher-level staff who have time-consuming clerical duties that take them away from their key functions stand to benefit most from automation. Lower-level employees whose tasks are largely administrative could be totally replaced by automation. So it's not surprising that employees in the survey (32%) were more likely to feel indifferent about automation than business leaders (10%).
AI and automation have particular significance for HR, particularly in building organizational trust and recruiting. HR is the one discipline that AI and automation will have a hard time replacing because neither can supplant the empathy needed to engage employees and build trust. But HR can use “people data” for performance reviews and hiring algorithms involving high performers as well as predicting turnover and attrition.
AI might eventually help HR speed up the lengthy and often flawed process of recruiting top job candidates. But the potential is even stronger than that — it could change the very way HR manages certain job duties and shift the types of skills needed on the market as a whole. In a world of automation, those human-oriented soft skills will be key to implementing a strong customer-service brand.
