New technology, including automation and artificial intelligence (AI), can lead to better jobs – but only with the right HR strategy.
The final report of a three-year study into AI, work and wellbeing found that that when people are prioritised, the wellbeing impacts of new technology can be mitigated and work can be improved.
The Nuffield-funded Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, which included a survey of 1,000 UK firms and 5,000 UK employees, discovered positive outcomes could be achieved if employers adopted these high-involvement HR strategies.
According to the research, automation is continuing at pace, but there is a wide variation by geography and sector. It found that in the three years up to 2023, 80% of firms had used AI, robotic, or automated equipment for physical tasks, while a very similar proportion had done so for cognitive tasks.
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It found that new types of automation were greatly affecting people’s work and wellbeing in various ways and that positive impacts could not be assumed, instead needing to be consciously shaped.
The report discovered that skills are also shifting with the transformation in technology.
It found that while companies are driving social and economic transformation within the system, most SMEs are not ready for it, nor for the responsible innovation or governance of automation.
The report highlighted that providing good work is the basis of individual wellbeing, which is one of the key drivers of productivity.
Other key findings cited in the report include: national statistics mask dramatic, cumulative inequalities across the innovation ecosystem; left unchecked, technological transformation will further entrench regional inequalities; and investment in the infrastructure to support innovation – including skills and connectivity – is vital.
Finally, it reported that new workplace technologies have divergent impacts, and don’t necessarily result in less dull, dangerous and dirty work. Additionally, it found AI and automation can lead to a fairer future of better work, but attitudes must change and trust must be built.
The findings follow the prime minister’s announcement about ‘a decade of national renewal’ and a CIPD poll which showed that almost two-thirds (63%) of people would trust AI to inform important work decisions. But workers surveyed in the review noted “a pervasive sense of anxiety, fear and uncertainty” about this technology, and what it could do to their work.
According to the review, the nation needs a new model of human-centred automation, a comprehensive socio-technical approach that understands technological transformation as highly interconnected, and interdependent with socio-economic change.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides, who led the Review, said: “The three-year research project I have been leading offers new insights into the theory of labour market frictions, ones that offer us greater understanding – not just of the picture of technological transformation, but of how we can promote wellbeing and build a fairer future of better work.”
Anna Thomas, founding director of the Institute for the Future of Work, said: “This landmark report into the impacts of automation shows that the future is not already determined and that we can start shaping a fairer future of better work right across the UK. The research and findings presented here don’t just surface who is being hit hardest by technological transformation – through a new social and economic paradigm of ‘good’ work, the report offers a new model of human-centred automation, a comprehensive socio-technical approach that understands technological transformation as highly interconnected, and interdependent with socio-economic change.”
James Hayton, professor of innovation at Warwick Business School and one of the authors of the final report, said: “Companies that adopt human resource management practices where employees’ skills are developed and valued, tend to see more positive impacts, as technology is used to support employees’ work and enhance job quality rather than simply drive efficiency gains through automation.
“Here, the impact on jobs, skills, and job quality is not solely driven by the technology itself. Instead, it is how firms and managers choose to implement it that is so crucial in bringing benefit to their workforce and overall productivity.”
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