5. Robots vs Humans

This could explain why the proportion of work completed using automation has doubled over the past three years from 8% to 17%, and it’s expected to nearly double to 30% three years from now, according to Willis Towers Watson’s 2019 Pathways to Digital Enablement Survey.

At what cost?

For the employee, automation can be a frightening prospect. With more and more organisations looking to digitalise their business, streamline their processes, and maximise resources in the immediate future and beyond, what implications does this have on people?

With 62% of CEOs globally, and more than two-thirds (71%) in the UK agreeing that AI will create more jobs than it destroys over the next three years (KPMG’s 2018 Outlook Survey), the implications could be positive. The challenge, as Emma Brock, Global Head of Organisational Effectiveness at digital agency, Wavemaker, points to, is that organisations are yet to fully understand how it can add value.

“This concept of automation and how technology changes the way people work is going to continue to be a massive topic over the next few years. Many organisations are struggling to get to grips with it and work out what that means in terms of the impact on people and their roles.”

It’s for this reason that global construction services company, ISG, has appointed a Chief Improvement Officer to identify areas where efficiency can be improved.

“Among other things, the Chief Improvement Officer’s role is to look at how we embed greater operational efficiency, quality and process improvement,” says Scott Jarvis, Head of Talent Development.

Rather than seeing automation and AI as something to be feared, Jarvis believes that businesses should be focusing on how it can enhance and add real value to employees’ working life.

“The nature of our work is inherently project based, so one of the things that we need to be good at is re-allocating resources as and when projects finish. We’re looking to utilise one set of practices across the business to do this, which would enable us to understand what skills and experience people have got, and what their preferences are, so that we can be quick-footed when we win a piece of work.”

The truth is, artificial intelligence is already far more integrated in our lives than we know, and what’s more, for the most part, consumers are embracing it. Just take a look at the growing popularity of automated personal assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Device, with PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018 revealing that one in three consumers plan to buy an AI device.

It all raises the question: Why is there so much fear within the workplace?

“I think there is a difficulty that there are some fantastic systems out there, but if you’re buying an off-the-shelf system, the reality is it probably then needs some tailoring,” says Griffin. It’s a view shared by Noel McGonigle, HR Director UK, Europe and Middle East at global retail estate services provider, Savills.

“Absolutely we want to bring in new tools and systems to make us more efficient, more streamlined, and automate some of the mundane tasks so that people have got more time to do value-add work, but I think the problem there is that systems are not quick-fixes.”

What’s more, previous bad experiences are likely to dissuade organisations from attempting to implement change in the future, resulting in an ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’ attitude.

“I think lots of organisations have crucified themselves on failed IT projects. We’ve all seen systems that come in, don’t work properly, they get discredited, people don’t use them after that, and you never get the value for money that you’re looking for,” McGonigle adds.

LinkedIn’s Global Reporting Trends 2018 report revealed that of 8,815 talent acquisition professionals and hiring managers, 67% believe that AI will help save time. So, are the benefits that leaders within organisations see not being sold correctly to the workforce?

“We’re making really good use of technologies like Yammer and Skype, to make sure that people are communicating as near as possible in real-time, because a lot of our projects move quite fast, decisions need to be made pretty quickly, and we need to use those technologies to communicate effectively with our subcontractors and suppliers,” says Jarvis.

It would seem those organisations that are ready to take the leap with digital transformation, automation and AI seemingly stand in good stead to reap the rewards, with technological tools enabling businesses to greatly improve efficiency.

In this instance, the increased possibilities provided by automation of existing systems could help to reduce the workload in the future, as McGonigle notes.

“Already, a lot of the new HR systems, for instance, come with chat bots. They offer a far greater automated interface, so that takes away one aspect of the role for someone working in HR. Automation is making the whole process far slicker.

“You’re also seeing it now with recruitment and on-boarding, there’s lots of systems that take you from application through to issuing contract, to signature, to populating the date of the HR system, without you having to print and sign loads of documents.”

What is crucial when automating any processes is being mindful of not just where it can make the processes quicker, but also improve efficiency in the long run. How long will it take to introduce the new system, and train employees on how to use it? Is it simply creating more work elsewhere within the business?

And, as McGonigle concludes, when deciding on the best method of optimising any processes in the near future and beyond, organisations should be taking the chance to question their necessity outright.

“Whenever you have the opportunity to review your processes, you should be looking at whether there is a need for it at all. Do you really need all these steps in the process? Can you improve the process while digitalising it? Ultimately, any changes should be simplifying it.”