The Future Workplace: Technology's Impact on Job Loss and Human Transformation - Essay Sample

Introduction

Technology is a critical part of human transformation that has brought in positive and negative impacts. The future workplace will see a faceoff between man and machine. Technology is reshaping the workplace, therefore, leading to the disappearance of some jobs. There are no signs that the technology boom will stop soon; instead, it is growing daily. A report by McKinsey global institute suggests that it estimated that 800 million workers globally would lose their jobs to technology in 40 years from today. Another research by Deloitte in 2014 predicts that robots will do 35% of human jobs by 2034There are jobs that have already lost to technology (Www2.deloitte.com 2019). Example of such jobs are switchboard operator, bowling alley pinsetter, lift operator, film projectionist, knocker-upper, bridge toll collector, check out cashier, railway station ticket seller and factory workers. Innovative change, especially the improvement of man-made consciousness (AI) and new age apply autonomy, are said to speak to a "third wave" of monetary advancement that will dislodge current occupations and current business designs and on a very basic level impact upon the very structure holding the system together itself.

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Artificial Intelligence

John McCarthy introduced the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) in 1956. AI is the ability to develop machines that can operate, think, and learn like human beings (Strickland 2019, pp. 4). Ai is continually being introduced into the market, therefore, making an impact on technology and business operations. Siri is an example of how AI is making it possible for a human to make requests depending on computers. It is therefore important to be ready for future development; for instance, UAE already has a state minister for AI in Dubai. Despite AI making lives easy and timesaving, its dependence is highly going to impact the way society operates negatively. Ai machines will make people jobless, therefore leading to people losing a sense of living.

Robotics

Robots are programmable machines that use sensors to interact with the human world hence making them possible to interact with the world autonomously or semi-autonomously. The use of robots is common in the manufacturing industry. Changying Precision Technology in China has a factory that is 70% robot-operated. Below is the image of the factory during operation. Changyin Precision Technology is an example of how human working power would not be required in business when robots take over most of the jobs. Robots replacing human beings is not futuristic, but rather it is taking place currently (Javesola 2019). Using Changyin Precision Technology as an example; currently, the factory is operated by 60 human beings a drop from the initial 650 employees. The manager predicts that the number of employees might also drop to 20 in the future.

The shift from human to robots, therefore, will hurt the level of human employment. The society in 40 to 50 years will be worst since most people will not be working, and therefore, most people may resort to unethical ways of earning a living. Robots also do not have a sense of conscience. A workplace, which is emotionless without human beings to provide empathy for its customers, is not a fruitful one. A society without human interaction is a dead society.

Fig: A factory plant owned by Changying Precision Technology in china

Occupations Trends from 1970

Childcare Worker

Composition and Size

The commonwealth directly got involved in childcare with an emphasis on assisting needy and working families. Childcare workers received funding, therefore, increasing their scope of work to include family day care, outside schools hours care and playgroups. The mid-1970s and 1980s witnessed an expansion in family day care unit due to philosophical change in society. The increased feminist movements in Australia and a high number of women in the workforce, better education levels, and broaden the demand for childcare workers. Over the period 1983-85 Australia government, funded new 5000 new Center-based daycare places and 1120 new outside school hours (HEALY & OLTEDAL 2010, pp. 255). The period between 1970 and 1996 saw the expansion of government daycare therefore increased demand for childcare workers. The recent developments from 1996 after the election of liberal party government witnessed the way childcare workers worked through the introduction of privatization of childcare. From 1 July 1997, the government got rid of subsidies paid to childcare workers. Childcare assistance working hours were limited to 50 hours per week followed by abolishment if additional income allowed for additional dependent children. According to (Treasury.gov.au 2019) the period between 1997 to present childcare workers have seen cut offs in their payments especially in government owned centers.

Trends and Future Situation in 2060

The government trend since 1997 has to cut costs on childcare while imposing strict laws on compliance measures. The forecast is that there is a likelihood that the government will continue to lower subsidy on childcare funding in 2019-2020. Reduced funding for childcare by the government is contributing to the reduced number of childcare assistance. Evidence shows that parents are now taking up the responsibility of taking care of their children, therefore reducing reliance on welfare support (Yamauchi 2010, pp. 231). Women in the workforce is another trending reason why childcare workers have been losing their jobs. Women are opting out of the labour market; this is according to the Australian Bureau of statistics, which indicates that 293000 women were not actively looking for work, therefore, making it easy for them to take care of their kids rather than taking them for daycare. Early childhood care workers in Australia are now quitting their jobs due to low pay and due to neglect by the government, which has continually reduced their budget since 1997. It is estimated that the government will have to subsidize childcare places in 2019-20 if they have to retain those still in the childcare workforce. The low pay of childcare workers, when compared with the rest of Australian workforce, is the reason why most of them are looking for better jobs in UK, Canada, and New Zealand, which offers their workers with incentives. The government should look forward to increasing its funding on childcare, which will translate to high pay for workers, that is if they want to retain the current workforce of childcare workers. There is also an increased demand for preschool education; that is why the government needs to step into safe the current negative trends concerning childcare work.

Doctors

Doctors in Australia go through four phases. These phases are basic education, prevocational training, vocational training, and continuing professional training. The period from the 1970s to 1990s paved the way for an increased number of doctors in the labor market. Increased demand for medical services meant the requirement for more doctors and to achieve it, medical schools were established. In 1988 Australian medical education and workforce for 21st century suggested 105 recommendations though they were never implemented. 2000 onwards, so an increased in graduate medical students due to a double in clinical schools. According to the Australian Bureau of statistics, the number of doctors serving the Australian population between 1971 and 2001 doubled up from 122 to 248 per 100000 population. It is, however, still a challenge since not all doctors are distributed across Australia.

The number of doctors working part-time increased from 2001, contributing 20% of the doctors when compared to 8% in 1971. There is also a moderate increase in the number of women who have taken up a career in medicine. Data shows that there were 48200 employed doctors in Australia as of August 2001 (Abs.gov.au 2019). Demand for doctors in Australia has always increased with an improved penetration of doctors in remote areas.

Trends and Future of Doctors

Despite the increase in demand for doctors, there are technological trends, which might have an impact on the number of doctors required in the labor market. Owing to the improvement in technology, healthcare practices are continuously adopting digital technology to advance how doctors work. Despite criticism and debates about the use of technology, there is no doubt that in the future, there will come a time when tasks performed by trained doctors will be replaced by technology (Mettler 2017, pp. 451). E-HRM theory supports the idea of automatic work by replacing human beings with robots and AI-driven systems. E-HRM application is practiced among Human Resource Practitioners. Operational, relational, and transformational e-HRM is widely used by the application of different technologies from payroll to knowledge management, in order to reinforce better performance. According to (Marler & Parry 2016, p. 19) unrealistic expectations about actual capabilities of the technology are one of the main misconceptions out there. Healthcare practices are adopting robotics and artificial intelligence platforms to take up some complex roles during medical procedures. An example is the Da Vinci surgical system that utilizes AI to perform precise surgical procedures. Radiologists are also a threatened group due to the adoption of enclitic analyzes CT scans and X-rays, which are considered efficient and accurate (Hailey 2009, pp. 61). By 2060, there are high chances for developments of health care jobs to manage AI platforms. The truth is that today, there are fewer doctors in Australia; therefore, the future might see the adoption of a new strategy where AI-driven systems are introduced instead or training more doctors. The machines are expected to perform tasks faster than human doctors do today. It should be noted that adopting AI-driven systems in healthcare will not get rid of doctors' jobs, but instead, it will assist doctors to perform their duties efficiently and precisely. Demand for doctors will remain high in the future since there is a need for the doctor-patient relationship, something that computers might not provide. Computers are not able to provide care to patients, and it would be hard for robots to provide natural empathy.

Construction Worker

Construction worker contribution to Australia labor market has not been smooth. In the 1970s there was a rise in oil prices in the world, leading to recession. The recession affected the construction industry, which led to dropping and retrenchment of construction workers. Australia's GDP in the 1970s supported the service industry and not the construction industry. Construction worker job is the most demanded job in Australia after mining and finance. The continued economic growth through the 1990s and 2000s in Australia has seen the creation of 330,000 construction business employing over one million people estimated at 9% of the Australian workforce (Abs.gov.au 2019). Despite a drop in the engineering construction sector in 2014 and 2015, the total number of people employed in the construction industry is high, especially in the building sector. Construction workers are in demand every day, especially those needed in the trade services. The building installation services employ the high number of construction workers estimated at 23% of the total industry employment. Most construction workers in Australia are men contributing to 89% of the total workforce. 85% of people in this occupation are estimated to work full time when compared with 54% across all industries. Construction workers in Australia are mainly composed of the young workforce aged between 15 and 34 years. The construction industry is, therefore, an employer of young full-time workers. The older population is under-represe...