This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 15, 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: While many people worry that automation will lead to a redundancy of job roles, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) consultant says it will also create new categories of jobs.
“When we talk about automation, the first thing that would come to mind is that your job is gone. That narrative needs to change,” said Sundara Raj, chief executive officer of PwC's Southeast Asian consulting services.
“It is scary to a certain extent, but there’s also a level of positivity and optimism to what automation brings, and our recent survey shows that most respondents are excited about what automation could bring to the business environment,” Raj told The Edge Financial Daily.
He was referring to the PwC’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation’s (Apec) chief executive officer (CEO) survey released in November 2017, which showed that automation is high on the agenda for Asean businesses as the key building block in their strategy to develop a digital workforce.
In Malaysia, 48% of CEOs (versus 29% of Apec CEOs) are moving to new structures of employment including hiring more “gig” talent (defined as short-term or freelance workers) and outsourced labour in light of changing trends of job roles, according to the survey.
Part of the positivity that is brought with automation is the increased economic opportunity presented to businesses. Bearing this in mind, Raj said it is important for businesses and employees to firstly understand what happens with automation and how to adapt to the changes effected.
“What happens when you embrace automation is that it leads to a massive reclassification and reconfiguration of work. It’s not about getting rid of people. It’s [also] not obliteration in entirety. It’s augmentation, reclassification and reconfiguration [of work].
“For example, we have automated teller machines all over the place, but that doesn’t mean that the role of the bank teller is totally obliterated. The teller is still there [and his] role has been reconfigured to do more complex things, to handle different sorts of transactions,” he explained.
Raj suggested that businesses prioritise creating value-added roles in the same system that uses automation, in order to give the employee a meaningful and sustainable job.
“So you [could] start reclassifying what was a traditional job into what could be a new job that adds value into the supply chain. That requires a lot of reskilling, retooling, a bit of education and of course a mindset change,” he said.
Some important skill sets that will be in demand to complement employees alongside automated machines include creativity, leadership, data analysis and emotional intelligence, said Raj.
As a financial services firm advising companies in this regard, Raj said one of the things that PwC aims to do in this light is to encourage employers to openly engage in discussion of the changes that will come with automation and how to prepare its people.
“Get into the automation debate. Don’t be left behind. Be a participant in that dialogue and create a narrative for your employees to show them that automation can bring long-term benefits to the business but that there is a critical need for us to change,” said Raj.
While Raj is mostly optimistic, he did express concern about the pace of change that is brought about with the rise of technology. In Malaysia, he said employers “should put plugs in place to ensure the young digital natives won’t be left behind”.
He also emphasised that although many of today’s jobs will not exist in the future, “many jobs of the future do not yet exist today”.
Raj said governments too have a huge role to play, in particular to incentivise businesses to get them to help their workforce.
In a “workforce of the future” survey also released by PwC recently, 56% of workers interviewed agreed that governments should take any action needed to protect jobs from automation.
Nonetheless, it appears that the confidence in business growth and profitability has increased among leaders, said Raj.