Nearly two-thirds of Australian workers believe AI and automation will have a positive impact on their current job and career prospects, according to research from Robert Half.
By Maggie Mancini
As automation efforts are set to ramp up in the workplace, this continued transformation is not expected to result in widespread job losses. In fact, most workers believe automation will have a positive impact on their career, research from Robert Half finds.
When asked about the impact of automation on their teams, the overwhelming majority (84%) of employers plan to either reskill or upskill their workforce to adapt to automation (49%) or hire new staff who already hold AI or automation skills (35%). Around two in five employers (39%) plan to review their workforce as they introduce automation, which may lead to some roles being phased out due to changes in the nature and scope of work.
Only 4% of employers have no immediate plans to automate processes, while 13% of employers are considering automation but have not finalised their plans. Employers are largely driven by the productivity and efficiency benefits that automation could bring (55%).
Employers also believe automation can bridge skills gaps in the labour market (46%), save costs (44%), shift more resources to strategic initiatives (43%), and reduce human error (39%).
Employees believe that automation will have a positive impact on their job and career prospects, the report finds. Almost two-thirds (63%) of workers say that automation will create greater demand for their skills and improve their career outlook. Over a quarter (26%) believe automation will have no impact on their career prospects. Just 11% of workers believe automation will have a negative impact on their career because it could make their role and skills obsolete.
Workers are willing to adapt to the introduction of automated processes. Over half (60%) of workers say they would participate in reskilling and move into a new role with their current employer if their job was partially automated. However, 14% of employees would look for a different role with their current employer and 19% of workers would look for a new job with a different employer.
