Are robots our future employees?

AI is coming, and HR needs to adapt or become automated.

The workforce of 2020 onwards will look radically different to the workforce of 2016; such are the advances of technology. The HR function needs to prepare and upskill the soon-to-be-replaced employees, as well as get the rest of the company in order, to maximise productivity and utilise this tool. 

Speaking at London HR Connection's event 'Are robots our future employees?', David D'Souza, CIPD's Head of London, said HR was sleepwalking towards the issue: "When we look at the future of work, we tend to be discounting what the future will actually look like. The challenge is thinking about medium- and long-term when we have so much to focus on in the short term." 

"There is no top-level economist who can articulate with confidence what happens to a workforce that could rapidly erode with the advent of automation. It just hasn't happened before. We're potentially talking about reducing the aggregate required workforce and the need for humans to do work. This is an issue to think about now before it becomes a reality. There are very real ethical and societal implications for people that need reflection and thought now to ensure that the future of work is human in an increasingly automated world."