Future of Jobs Report: Technological Adoption
Technological advances are shaping the future of work. According to a 2020 report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the future of jobs, humans and machines will contribute equally to work output by 2025. Further, the Covid-19 Pandemic forced millions of people out of their jobs. Many employers compensated for workplace shutdowns and a scarcity of labor during the pandemic by replacing people with computers (Time, 2020). While the country is slowly recovering, the fact remains that many people are more disadvantaged now than they were at the beginning 2020. This trend is only going to increase over the next decade as job are replaced with computers.
The WEF’s survey results indicated that organizations are looking to introduce more automation, reduce their current workforce (43%) or expand their workforce because of deeper technological integration (34%), and expand their use of contractors for task specialized work (41%). While 43% of the companies surveyed indicated they are looking to reduce the numbers in the workforce – presumably to save money by replacing workers with automation – many of the companies indicated that the technology they would like to adopt will increase the number of jobs. This has the potential to create thousands of jobs for workers. However, the jobs increased may be those that are highly specialized and require higher degrees, and the jobs eliminated will be those that are unspecialized and lower paying. Therefore, the workers that will be displaced from their jobs because of technological adoption may be those that are in a lower income bracket, further disadvantaging them.
What can be done to make sure both specialized and unspecialized workers aren’t further displaced by computers and automation? While there isn’t an easy answer, Meridiem Solution’s primary goal is human-centered: pioneering a better workplace by transforming the transformers and leading the leaders who are growing the new generation workforce. Automation and people can coexist in an organization; in fact, technological advances are key for maintaining and developing organizations. However, keeping the right people at the heart of an organization is imperative to achieving business goals.
Note: unless specified, all source material from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2020 https://time.com/5876604/machines-jobs-coronavirus/
Ella Beilman
Ella is a graduate student at Xavier University in the Masters of Science Industrial-Organizational Psychology program. As an undergraduate student at the University of Louisville, Ella found that her passion for bettering work experiences for employees, and hopes to continue to engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion activities both inside and outside of work. Ella’s interests perfectly align with those of Meridiem Solution’s, which is what drew her to interning for the organization.