More than half of generic work profiles are facing the risk of disruption over the next two years due to automation, according to an estimate by Teamlease Services.
However, this does not necessarily imply job losses as automation would throw up new job profiles for those getting substituted, experts said.
A Teamlease Services study, based on data from secondary sources, estimates 52-69% of repetitive and predictive roles in sectors including IT, financial services, manufacturing, transportation, packaging and shipping to get exposed to the risk of automation in the next couple of years.
“The data implies risk of automation. However, that does not mean it would lead to a job loss necessarily,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of Teamlease Services, discrediting the oft-quoted premise that automation would lead to job loss.
“There’s a nuance that most people lose out on—jobs disappearing and substitution of jobs,” said Debabrat Mishra, partner at Deloitte. “This is not the first time we are witnessing the impact of technology and automation. For example, ATMs were supposed to do away with cashiers (at banks) but both coexist today. In fact, ATMs created more jobs in the backend in the form of call centres,” he explained.
Though employment-related concerns due to automation cannot be altogether ruled out, it would allow humans to get more involved in tasks that need higher specialisation and critical thinking, experts said.
As much as 49% companies that responded to a recent survey by the All India Management Association (AIMA) and PwC on how artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs said they had implemented AI solutions in their businesses and were reaping productivity benefits.
Roles getting rapidly disrupted include data-entry clerk, cashier, financial analyst, telemarketer, customer-service executive, manual work operator/executive, factory worker, computer support specialist, market research analyst, retail salesperson and advertising sales person.
However, several of the people getting replaced by automation will find higher-value-added jobs, said experts. Mishra qualified the substitution of jobs predicted as disruption. For instance, the role of a data-entry clerk will be taken over by machines but the role will be substituted by a data-validation clerk.
A cashier’s role would be substituted by a query handler, a financial analyst by an adviser, a telemarketer by a personal adviser or marketing algorithm builder, a customer service executive by a customer interaction executive and a retail salesperson by a retail adviser, style adviser or shopping assistant.
The AIMA survey stated that as AI systems continue to disrupt traditional industrial practices with their increasing prowess at tackling complex problems, they continue to raise employment-related concerns.
While 36% of decision-makers stated that overall, advancements in automation and technology had not displaced jobs, 46% said these would have a severe impact on employment in India. Further, nearly half the participants surveyed felt job automation was reasonably probable; however, it was likely to be partial, with humans retained for specific expertise.
“Based on the views of professionals working across different industrial sectors, we can conclude that most of the sectors are likely to be partially automated, but the chances of complete automation in the next five years are the highest in the manufacturing sector (38%), followed by the finance sector (31%),” the survey stated.
“There will be some impact on jobs in the short-term and jobs will not grow in massive numbers. However, in the next five years or so, the impact will even out as there will be new job creations and role substitutions,” said Pankaj Bansal, chief executive at PeopleStrong.
Salary levels will go up due to specialisation of skillsets and the acute dearth of talent qualified in new capabilities in India and the world over, he said.
According to a survey on the Future of Jobs in India by EY and Nasscom, there will be a change in workforce mix by 2022 due to increased adoption of technologies. By then, 9% of the workforce will be deployed in new jobs that do not exist today, 37% will be in jobs that have radically changed skillsets and 54% will fall under the unchanged jobs category.
Experts also stated that the impact of automation is no longer restricted to junior and middle level as creation of new categories of businesses is leading to senior-level jobs being redesigned with rapid adoption of AI, robotics, blockchain, etc. One recent instance of this was seen a couple of weeks ago, when Cognizant Technology Solutions let go of 200 employees at the senior level.
This was part of the company’s plan to align its talent pool to new digital requirements, replacing those who have not adopted to the new technology landscape with those with new skills.
“Organisations need the senior leadership positions to support these requirements—which could either happen through senior leadership upskill and leadership ability changes or hiring talent from outside,” said Anurag Malik, partner at EY.
The good news is that while technology is making inroads at a rapid pace and as new job profiles get created, there is an increasing demand for professionals trained in new skills who can help companies navigate through the transformation.
-GoITWay
However, this does not necessarily imply job losses as automation would throw up new job profiles for those getting substituted, experts said.
A Teamlease Services study, based on data from secondary sources, estimates 52-69% of repetitive and predictive roles in sectors including IT, financial services, manufacturing, transportation, packaging and shipping to get exposed to the risk of automation in the next couple of years.
“The data implies risk of automation. However, that does not mean it would lead to a job loss necessarily,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of Teamlease Services, discrediting the oft-quoted premise that automation would lead to job loss.
“There’s a nuance that most people lose out on—jobs disappearing and substitution of jobs,” said Debabrat Mishra, partner at Deloitte. “This is not the first time we are witnessing the impact of technology and automation. For example, ATMs were supposed to do away with cashiers (at banks) but both coexist today. In fact, ATMs created more jobs in the backend in the form of call centres,” he explained.
Though employment-related concerns due to automation cannot be altogether ruled out, it would allow humans to get more involved in tasks that need higher specialisation and critical thinking, experts said.
As much as 49% companies that responded to a recent survey by the All India Management Association (AIMA) and PwC on how artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs said they had implemented AI solutions in their businesses and were reaping productivity benefits.
Roles getting rapidly disrupted include data-entry clerk, cashier, financial analyst, telemarketer, customer-service executive, manual work operator/executive, factory worker, computer support specialist, market research analyst, retail salesperson and advertising sales person.
However, several of the people getting replaced by automation will find higher-value-added jobs, said experts. Mishra qualified the substitution of jobs predicted as disruption. For instance, the role of a data-entry clerk will be taken over by machines but the role will be substituted by a data-validation clerk.
A cashier’s role would be substituted by a query handler, a financial analyst by an adviser, a telemarketer by a personal adviser or marketing algorithm builder, a customer service executive by a customer interaction executive and a retail salesperson by a retail adviser, style adviser or shopping assistant.
The AIMA survey stated that as AI systems continue to disrupt traditional industrial practices with their increasing prowess at tackling complex problems, they continue to raise employment-related concerns.
While 36% of decision-makers stated that overall, advancements in automation and technology had not displaced jobs, 46% said these would have a severe impact on employment in India. Further, nearly half the participants surveyed felt job automation was reasonably probable; however, it was likely to be partial, with humans retained for specific expertise.
“Based on the views of professionals working across different industrial sectors, we can conclude that most of the sectors are likely to be partially automated, but the chances of complete automation in the next five years are the highest in the manufacturing sector (38%), followed by the finance sector (31%),” the survey stated.
“There will be some impact on jobs in the short-term and jobs will not grow in massive numbers. However, in the next five years or so, the impact will even out as there will be new job creations and role substitutions,” said Pankaj Bansal, chief executive at PeopleStrong.
Salary levels will go up due to specialisation of skillsets and the acute dearth of talent qualified in new capabilities in India and the world over, he said.
According to a survey on the Future of Jobs in India by EY and Nasscom, there will be a change in workforce mix by 2022 due to increased adoption of technologies. By then, 9% of the workforce will be deployed in new jobs that do not exist today, 37% will be in jobs that have radically changed skillsets and 54% will fall under the unchanged jobs category.
Experts also stated that the impact of automation is no longer restricted to junior and middle level as creation of new categories of businesses is leading to senior-level jobs being redesigned with rapid adoption of AI, robotics, blockchain, etc. One recent instance of this was seen a couple of weeks ago, when Cognizant Technology Solutions let go of 200 employees at the senior level.
This was part of the company’s plan to align its talent pool to new digital requirements, replacing those who have not adopted to the new technology landscape with those with new skills.
“Organisations need the senior leadership positions to support these requirements—which could either happen through senior leadership upskill and leadership ability changes or hiring talent from outside,” said Anurag Malik, partner at EY.
The good news is that while technology is making inroads at a rapid pace and as new job profiles get created, there is an increasing demand for professionals trained in new skills who can help companies navigate through the transformation.
-GoITWay
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