Increased use of robots sets new accents in in-company training

Boston (Massachusetts) | Human work is good. The quality of robots is better. According to the new study “Robomageddon: Future of Work Study” by eLearning service provider MindEdge, 58% of US managers are convinced of this. Almost half of the 428 managers surveyed in companies with more than 20 employees expect automation to lead to additional job losses in the next five years. Such developments will have a significant impact on training and increase its importance. More and more employees will inevitably have to retrain internally or externally.

According to MindEdge’s survey, U.S. managers are very tech-savvy, with 65% of participants maintaining the same level of robotics and automation, even if it doesn’t deliver cost benefits. Automation thus appears to have already established itself across all industries in the US. 74% of MindEdge respondents said their companies were already using robots or artificial intelligence. According to the survey, around a quarter of those surveyed have already experienced job losses in their own companies as a result of automation.

Although MindEdge’s survey found that managers prefer robots to humans for quality work, they are not worried about their own jobs. A majority (52%) still consider their jobs to be secure. Managers believe that their work requires a high level of empathy and human interaction that robots cannot afford. MindEdge’s study suggests that other job profiles besides management positions, where soft skills such as communication, critical thinking and creativity would be required, are least affected by automation.

If managers are not worried about their work, then those responsible for continuing education should not do so either, MindEdge argues, because the future for this is promising. According to the survey, 68% of U.S. managers see internal training as an effective way to train employees for the changing world of work. More than a third of managers (36%) believe that online training is the best way to do this.

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