Letters: Never fear, robots are here
[Re: Y2Pay: Robots eat into wage growth in the UK but boost productivity, Nov 10]
The fear that you may be replaced with a robot is, for some, no longer the stuff of science fiction. With automated systems and AI becoming ever-more sophisticated, businesses across a number of sectors are increasingly looking to adopt automation to boost productivity and efficiency.
However, automation need not see employees competing for roles with robots. Businesses should approach automation as an opportunity to evolve human roles and upskill employees to be better prepped to work alongside these automated tools.
AI and robots will always be prone to errors and malfunctions, and human intervention is required. The people best placed to take this action are the ones with good understanding of the job that the robots are doing, because they have done it themselves.
Upskilling employees to maintain, manage and troubleshoot automation tools can evolve their roles, increasing their value to the business. Furthermore, investing in people in this way will encourage loyalty, work satisfaction, and staff retention, all of which are key to a business’ survival, particularly during an economic downturn.
Automation should not be seen as a threat, but as an opportunity for man and machine to evolve a business in harmony.
María Balbás
Elev8