Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): Companies are jumping onto the automation bandwagon, but this does not mean the eventual demise of the human worker. Humans, not robots, will still be the ones who differentiate businesses in the coming decades, according to global recruitment agency Hays Plc.

Robotics and technical advancement also mean greater productivity and the creation of new types of work and jobs for the future, it said in a statement today.

"The more sensationalist headlines predict the demise of the human worker, [but] the more sensible do point to the opportunity for advanced robotics to unleash a massive wave of productivity improvements, akin to the impact of the original Industrial Revolution.

"I find it hard to believe some of the more dramatic headlines, many of which appear to discount the importance of personal relationships and intuition, for which everyone in business knows there is no substitute," said Hays chief executive officer Alistair Cox in the same statement.

Cox admitted there is no denying that robots have the upper hand when it comes to, for example, repetitive motion and basic data analysis.

"[But] equally, the advances in data science and artificial intelligence are opening up new ways to look at businesses and generating insights that can lead to major productivity improvements.

"I'm investing in those areas in my own business, but to best equip people with the tools to do a better job, not to replace them," he added.

According to Hays, there are four reasons why businesses will need people as much, if not more, than robots. The first two are simply that people have become a premium, and that one can't build rapport with a robot.

"We must all be aware that technology can be replicated by your competitors but your people can't. We should therefore look at robots not as a threat, but as a means of freeing up time, increasing capacity and productivity and ultimately allowing businesses to focus on the human side of what they do," said Cox.

He has also yet to meet a robot that can motivate a workforce, bank goodwill, return a favour or build a relationship, qualities that enable a business to run smoothly and get things done.

"It's these meaningful personal relationships and interactions that see employees go the extra mile for a client or each other. Human relationships simply cannot, and will not, be replicated by robots," he said.

The third and fourth reasons put forth by Hays are that innovation can't be programmed or plugged in, and that human instinct should be trusted.

"To be truly innovative requires a level of collaboration, idea sharing and creativity that simply cannot be programmed or plugged in. These moments are often unplanned and happen in the office corridor, over a drink in the evening or when joining a meeting you might not have been scheduled to attend," he added.

While Cox noted that there is no replacing hard work, it's often these unexpected and unplanned moments that lead to businesses standing out from their competitors.

Lastly, Cox believes that natural intuition cannot be coded, and cited how "we've all seen examples of results that fly in the face of prior data".

Thus, the advent of smart machines will also mean that people and their unique skills will become more valuable, he added.

"We'll need a whole lot of human skill and intuition to really leverage this technology to drive productivity in our businesses. The trick is to make sure we recognise that we will need different skills, either individually ourselves or within our organisations," he said.

 

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