The right HR strategy is needed to take advantage of new technologies, such as automation and artificial intelligence.
In the final report from a three-year research into AI, work, and wellbeing, it was found that by prioritising people, new technologies can have a positive impact on wellbeing and improve work.
The Nuffield funded Pissarides review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing included a survey of UK firms and UK employees. Positive outcomes were found if employers adopted high-involvement HR practices.
The research shows that automation continues to progress, but it varies greatly by sector and geography. The research found that 80% of companies had already used AI, robots, or automated equipment to perform physical tasks in the three-year period up until 2023. A similar percentage had also done so for cognitive tasks.
The study found that automation was affecting the work and well-being of people in many ways. Positive impacts were not assumed but needed to be actively shaped.
The report found that the skills required to operate in a technologically-driven world are changing.
The study found that although companies are driving the social and economic transformation of the system, the majority of SMEs aren’t ready to innovate responsibly or govern automation.
The report highlighted the fact that individual wellbeing is the foundation of productivity.
The report also cites that if left unchecked the technological transformation will entrench regional inequality. Investment in infrastructure, including skills and connectivity, is essential to support innovation.
It concluded that workplace technologies can have divergent effects and are not always associated with less dirty, hazardous, or dull work. It also found that AI and automation could lead to a better future with more fair work. But attitudes and trust need to be changed.
The findings come after the Prime Minister’s announcement of a “decade of national renewal” and a CIPD survey which revealed that nearly two-thirds of people (63%) would trust AI in order to make important decisions. The review found that workers expressed “a sense of anxiety, concern and uncertainty” regarding this technology and its potential impact on their jobs.
The review concluded that the nation needed a new human-centered automation model, as well as a socio-technical strategy that understood technological change to be highly interconnected and interdependent with social-economic changes.
The Review was led by Nobel Prize winner, Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides. He said, “The three-year project I’ve been leading has offered new insights into labour market frictions. It gives us a better understanding of not only the picture of technology transformation, but also how we can build a fairer future with better work.”
Anna Thomas, founder director of the Institute for the Future of Work said: “This groundbreaking report on the impacts of automaton shows that the future has not been determined. We can begin shaping a fairer future of better work across the UK.” This report does not just show who is most affected by the technological revolution. It also offers a model of human-centred automaton, a socio-technical perspective that sees technology transformation as interconnected and interdependent to socio-economic changes.
James Hayton, professor at Warwick Business School, and one of its authors, stated: “Companies who adopt human resource management where employees’ skills and abilities are developed and valued tend to see positive impacts as technology is used to enhance the quality of work rather than just drive efficiency gains by automation.
The technology is not the only factor that impacts jobs, skills and job quality. It is not the technology itself that has such a significant impact on jobs, skills and job quality. Instead, it’s how managers and firms choose to implement it.
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