Reward insight
Doug Sawers, managing director at SD Worx UK & Ireland, discusses the future of work Shaping an AI-driven future
F rom the industrial revolution onwards, the growing power of machines has played on our fears. As Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein showed, once you create a monster you relinquish control and unleash an unstoppable chain of negative events. Currently there’s an assumption that the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will follow a similar real-life path to Shelley’s fictitious monster. The machines or robots will first take our jobs – and professionals such as doctors and lawyers are no exception according to the narrative – then they will take over the world. Influential voices – such as that of Mark Carney, Bank of England governor – have added to our concerns by claiming that over fifteen million United Kingdom jobs will be “mercilessly destroyed” by technology. But few have stopped and reasoned that it doesn’t have to be like this. Nobody wants to be a modern-day Luddite and deny progress; after all, there are highly positive outcomes from many of the latest AI advances. For example, it’s already been shown that in some cases, IBM’s cognitive supercomputer, Watson, can diagnose cancer faster than doctors and there are many more constructive uses in healthcare and beyond. However, does this also mean that we will stand by as increased automation leads to vast unemployment and all the other social ills this can bring? Robots can complete boring repetitive tasks more quickly, with increased accuracy and without a break. So they are useful for work that is repeatable and scalable. In a payroll context, for example, robotic process automation (RPA) can operate at the user interface layer of applications and work between existing systems to mimic tasks which were usually carried out by payroll administrators. The intention is to reduce total operational costs while improving service quality. So by denying these advantages a
business will be cutting off its nose to spite its face. But if the first myth about AI is that we don’t have a choice, the second is that we’ll be dealing with superhuman AI this century. Robotic automation still has significant limitations. While robots are scalable, audit compliant, cost-competitive and easy to integrate with many network environment, they still require humans to guide their use and to apply the creativity, intuition and strategic thinking needed. My guess is that they will continue to do so for a good few years yet.
Much of this training will inevitably be technical in focus. There are, however, a range of softer skills that robots find different to master – at least for a good few years yet. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report of 2016 (http://bit.ly/1QlfERT), skills that will be in high demand by 2020 include complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, collaboration – all skills requiring high emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is an inherently human characteristic and replicating it in an automated fashion remains a task too far for even the most agile brains working on the development of artificial intelligence today. The closest to this that has so far been achieved is Pepper, the first humanoid robot capable of recognising the principal human emotions and adapting his behaviour to the mood of his interlocutor. Yet, robots still have a long way to go before they can rival human communication and interpersonal skills. So training will be at the heart of a new outward looking strategy. But what about the work of the HR department itself? Will this be affected? Cloud-based HR IT solutions and robotics in the back office will remove the need for HR to spend as much time on processes, freeing up time and effort for more strategic work. This may include improving their ‘customer service’ to their employees and exploiting the opportunities data analytics provide to understand the links between employees and business outcomes. So, in many ways the future of business – and our society – does depend on HR teams. They need to drive the vision of a world where robots don’t replace human workers, but instead complement their work. Without HR’s strong lead and strategic direction, knee-jerk reactions, fear and fatalistic thinking could take over, to the detriment of their organisation – and ultimately us all. n
...humans to guide their use and to apply the creativity, intuition and strategic thinking...
So if the AI evolution is set to unfold gradually, the human resources (HR) team will be in the frontline, helping existing staff to ‘skill up’ to meet new demands and helping to shape the new business culture, working practices and wellbeing of the organisation. Their mission will be to seize the opportunity presented by automation to drive the business forward while protecting employees and optimising their skills and experience. To return to Carney: “The commitment to reskilling all workers must be continual. Lifelong learning, every-greening skills and cooperative training will become more important than ever as technology evolves,” he says. Deloitte’s vice chair and London senior partner Angus Knowles-Cutler agrees: “In a high-skill economy you need talent coming in and to train, retain and develop talent. So the HR function will be vital going forward.”
31
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 30 | May 2017
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs