Employers should address concerns and invest in development as roles evolve, says CIPD
Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of employees are concerned that at least part of their job could soon be automated, researchreleased today has revealed, as employers flock towards the latest technology.
The CIPD/Halogen Employee Outlook report also found that, of those who were worried about losing their job to a machine, almost half (49 per cent) thought parts of their roles would be automated within the next five years, and 8 per cent believed it would happen within the next year.
Claire McCartney, associate research adviser at the CIPD, told People Management that staff concerns about automation could be triggered by employers “increasingly making use of different types of technology, and that, as a result, jobs and the skills needed in the workplace are changing and evolving”.
McCartney advised firms to address workers’ concerns head on and, where possible, invest in upskilling and development.
The study revealed that finance professionals were among those most concerned about losing their jobs to technology. Almost a third (32 per cent) of those in financial intermediation feared automation would make them obsolete, compared with just 14 per cent of construction industry professionals.
The rise of the machines has already wiped out numerous jobs in the wider financial sector. German lender Commerzbank announced last September that it was cutting around 10,000 roles, citing a renewed focus on digitisation and automation among its reasons for doing so, while in March last year Royal Bank of Scotland revealed that it was axing 550 jobs and replacing them with ‘robo-advisers’.
The CIPD report discovered that the increase in workplace technology was affecting staff in other ways too. Around a third (32 per cent) of the 2,224 employees surveyed felt having remote working options meant they could not switch off in their personal time, while nearly a fifth (18 per cent) said the constant connection to the office made them feel as if they were under surveillance.
More than three-quarters (77 per cent) either agreed or strongly agreed that the UK should follow France’s lead and give workers the right to ignore work emails out of hours. Since the start of this year, workers in France have been granted a ‘right to disconnect’, legally protecting them if they refuse to reply to work messages on their days off.
However, 30 per cent of those surveyed said having remote access to the workplace made them feel empowered, 53 per cent said it helped them work flexibly and 37 per cent said it made them more productive.
“Flexible working has an important role to play in modern workplaces, and remote access to work can open up the jobs market to those who may not have been able to access it before,” McCartney said. “With the UK’s decision to leave the EU causing further uncertainty around access to skills, it’s more important than ever that employers make use of all the talent available to them by ensuring that their workplaces are inclusive, flexible and agile.”
Dominique Jones, chief people officer at Halogen Software, added: “Organisations should focus on providing employees with the tools and resources to access what they need, when they need it, to improve their performance. Those that enable progress on goals, and feedback and development, will be better positioned to help people perform at their best and help move the business forward.”
A separate report from Lee Hecht Harrison Penna, also released today, found that just under a fifth (17 per cent) of workers now describe their stress levels as significant, with 20 per cent regularly taking home projects in the evening and 48 per cent checking emails after hours or at the weekend.
Read more: Automation high on employers’ agenda as skills gaps set to bite