Management and leadership development will be a crucial issue over the next three years for the companies, as indicated by Hamish Deery, Head of Talent and Rewards at Willis Towers Watson Australia.
"We know strong leadership is a key driver of employee engagement, culture, and retention. But in the face of rapidly changing work automation and increasing use of contingent talent, companies will need to develop leaders and managers differently, " said Deery.
"They will need to orchestrate a radically different work ecosystem, imbed and drive a culture that supports the business strategy, and keep all of the talents in their workplaces fully engaged – whether employed or contingent."
Deery made these remarks responding to Willis Towers Watson’s new research, which revealed that automation in workplace (including the use of artificial intelligence and robotics) is expected to surge in the next three years.
However, the survey additionally revealed that very few HR functions are fully ready to tackle the organizational change requirements associated with automation.
According to the Global Future of Work Survey, Asia Pacific companies expect automation will account for an average 23% of work being done in the next three years.
It also highlights that 13% of work is being done using AI and robotics today, and only 7% three years back. Amongst companies that are by now using AI and robotics, 85% will extend their utilization of automation in the next three years.
The workplace automation is picking up speedily in Asia Pacific region as indicated by Adam Hall, Future of Work Leader Australia at Willis Towers Watson.
He said, "Importantly, the business drivers are mainly related to augmenting human performance, not replacing it."
"The benefits of automation are expected to come primarily from greater workforce and workplace flexibility, work design, and reduced costs. There is also a reality that the balance of skills and work will shift. Roughly half of the employers throughout the Asia-Pacific region in our survey (48%) believe they will require fewer employees in the next three years as a result of automation compared with 20% of organizations who say that is true today."
According to Hall, although many organizations identify the requirement of innovative approaches to deal with the future of work, the survey also revealed a major concern about employer readiness.
He said, "along with the growing use of AI, robotics, free agent workers, contractors, consultants and part-time employees come a myriad of people challenges that very few business are fully prepared to tackle. "
Certainly, as indicated by the survey, less than 5% of companies believe that their HR functions are fully ready for the varying requirements of digitalization, though around 25% are "somewhat prepared" and have already taken some major action.
For example, 24% of companies have taken actions to tackle talent shortages through proper workforce planning; 26% have recognized the emerging skills required for their business; 26% have matched talent to new work requirements, and 26% have defined and enabled careers based on a more responsive organizational structure. Also, many employers are intending to reconfigure total rewards and benefits to suit a significantly diversified workforce (55%).
Due to automation, several Asia Pacific companies are planning to change their strategy of designing jobs and their future utilization of "non-employee" talent. For example, many are planning to deconstruct jobs into their component tasks and recognize tasks that can be automated (52%).
Consequently, a cutback in related expenses can be made depending on how those roles are reconfigured. Around 49% respondents expect to redesign jobs so that they require fewer human skills in the next three years. Moreover, only around 51% plan to reskill those whose work is being changed.
Also, employers utilizing automation to increase work flexibility are anticipated to increase. Currently, only 20% of the respondents use automation as an enabler for greater utilization of non-employee talent, such as free agents or contractors, but 58% anticipate that to be the situation in the next three years.
Additionally, most companies believe that automation will affect managers in the next three years, especially, how supervisors deal with their people through the impact of automation on their jobs (34% see this capability today vs. 62% in 2020).
In fact, around 56% believe employers ought to think in a different way about the requirements and skills for successors and succession management due to automation.