Technology is dramatically changing many aspects of our lives — including how we work. Many organizations and industries are looking to automate tasks or entire positions, which can make technology seem threatening for workers. A new report from WorkMarket looks at different attitudes toward automation and examines how this trend could change the business world.
For one thing, there’s a notable difference between employers and employees when it comes to views on automation. More than half of business leaders (52%) are interested in automating some part of their workforce, while one-third of employees described themselves as indifferent.
IT is one of the areas where automation is likely to have the biggest impact. Almost half of business leaders (43%) and nearly a third of employees (29%) cited IT and technology issues as the tasks that most often distract them from their work. After IT/technology, the tasks listed as keeping employees from focusing on more important aspects of their job include scheduling meetings, expense management, assigning work to eternal contributors, processing raw data, time entry, and billing/accounting tasks. The report found that these types of tasks are also often easily automated, and have the potential to give people more time back in their work day.
In fact, saving time is a key factor for those who support automation in the workplace. Fifty-three percent of employees interviewed said they believe they could save up to two hours a day if certain tasks were automated, and most business leaders agree, with almost 80% saying they’d likely save up to three hours of time a day.
But there are other advantages to automation besides saving time. The vast majority of people who completed the survey (90%) said automation would improve their organization when it comes to reducing manual errors, speeding up task completion and better quality product.
And employers and employees alike believe there is a place for automation within their organization. Seventy four percent said at least part of their current job could be automated.
Looking to the future, it appears automation is on the horizon for a growing number of companies. More than half of business leaders said they plan to implement automation technology in some part of their company in the next three to five years.
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