Employee Satisfaction in the era of Robotics

Can we thrive as humans in the era of robotics? Can employee satisfaction be linked to robotics technology or will virtual employees replace humans in near future? The fear that robotics will take more jobs from humans that they create raises concerns that technology might cause economic shrinkage in the workforce, but is that the case?

In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, more than half of technology experts put forward the view that the potential impact of technology will not only transform the type of work we do today, but also create new and greater value-added roles, contributing to employees’ satisfaction.

Life-time Employment

The days of lifetime employment at a single company are long gone, so business leaders today need to make more effort to retain talent and foster employees loyalty. As we know, loyal employees are the heart and soul of successful companies. This is because when people feel fulfilled in their jobs, they tend to go above and beyond what’s expected from their 9-5 working day. They share expertise, resolve conflicts, suggest improvements, boost morale, help co-workers and more.

 From the Agricultural Revolution to IT Automation 

Throughout history, technology has been a job creator- not a job destroyer. During the agricultural revolution in XIX century, and when farming machinery was first introduced, there were fears of jobs elimination. Instead, the hard, repetitive, manual work was replaced by simple machinery and tools and then- by simplified, automated systems. This meant that there were more quality jobs created, the sector efficiency increased and the quality of life for employees improved. The Agricultural Revolution helped to triple the size of our civilisation and also directly led to the Industrial Revolution.

Upskilling the Workforce

The same applies to the IT industry. Looking back at the last 20 – 30 years of IT history, some roles that previously were thought as highly skilled and specialist are now fully automated or conducted by virtual engineers. This means for example, that a Database Administrator doesn’t have to do the high volume repetitive tasks and can tackle more rewarding, project-based work.

Another advantage of mushrooming robotics in the IT industry is that the junior, lesser skilled engineers can move up to take on functions that were formerly unreachable for them.

Employee Satisfaction

There are many examples of when automation has actually supported business growth, from  productivity levels, to the number of clients or company revenue. All this was achieved without having to expand the delivery team or the workforce. For many employees, this also means a higher income and increased satisfaction in their work. Thanks to robotics, IT specialists can shift their workload and focus on creating value add activities and fulfilling their ambitions and aspirations.

The application of robotics also means that we should be able to free up our busy schedules and find more time to spend with family, friends and on leisure. It’s likely to increase our personal, not just professional productivity!

There is no doubt that robotics will have a major impact on the workforce globally and will reshape the role of the human being in the workplace. However, we also believe that robotics will allow employees to excel in roles that they find more interesting, relevant and satisfying, complementing the creativity and uniqueness of human beings.

Robotics and Workforce Management

At Corporate Modelling, we compliment human activity with robotics process automation to help companies improve their business processes. Our award-winning, back office workforce management software OPX is already helping companies to remove the monotony of high volume, repetitive work and upskill the workforce.

For a live demo of OPX, please get in touch with the team.