New Global Research from ManpowerGroup
“Humans Wanted, Robots Need You.”
A record number of employers plan to increase or maintain the number of employees as a result of automation.
– 86% of Greek employers plan to increase or retain their staff as a result of automation, worldwide the figure is 87%
– Companies which are investing in digitisation and in transferring tasks to robots are creating the largest numbers of jobs
– 88% of Greek companies plan to upgrade their workforce’s skills by 2020, compared to just 21% in 2011. Globally the figure is 84%
– 30% of Greek companies plan to increase the number of staff in IT positions
Αthens, 6 February 2019 – The most contentious debate of the decade, whether robots will replace humans, finally has an answer. ManpowerGroup “Humans Wanted: Robots Need You“ found that, for the 3rd consecutive year, more employers than ever before – 87% – plan to increase or retain their staff due to automation. The ManpowerGroup survey was conducted among 19,000 employers in 44 countries and examined the impact of automation on job growth for the next 2 years.
For Greece, 309 companies participated in the survey and results showed that 86% of employers plan to maintain or increase the number of employees as a result of automation. Specifically, 70% plan to retain the same number of employees, 16% to increase employs, while just 12% plan to reduce staff numbers.
Companies that are digitising are growing, and that growth is producing more and new kinds of jobs. Organisations that are already automating tasks and progressing their digital transformation are most confident of increasing headcount. Global talent shortages are at a 12-year high and new skills are appearing as fast as others disappear. More companies are planning to build talent than ever before, and this trend shows no sign of slowing. Globally, 84% of employers plan to upskill their workforce by 2020. The results of the survey in Greece showed that 88% of Greek employers plan to invest in existing employees by providing them with training to develop new skills by 2020. Meanwhile, 87% of Greek employers say they are willing to offer even higher pay to attract someone with the skills needed for the company to function.
“The focus on robots eliminating jobs is distracting us from the real issue,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman & CEO. “More and more robots are being added to the workforce, but humans are too. Tech is here to stay and it’s our responsibility as leaders to become Chief Learning Officers and work out how we integrate humans with machines. Learning today cannot be done as it was in the past. That’s why at ManpowerGroup we’re reskilling people from declining industries like textiles for jobs in high growth industries including cyber security, advanced manufacturing and autonomous driving. If we focus on practical steps to upskill people at speed and at scale, organisations and individuals really can befriend the machines.”
The research also found that demand for IT skills is growing significantly and with speed; Globally, 16% of companies expect to increase headcount in IT, five times more than those expecting a decrease. Production and manufacturing employers anticipate the most change in headcount, 25% say they will employ more people in the next year, while 20% say they will employ fewer. Growth will come in front line and customer facing roles too – all requiring human skills such as communication, negotiation, leadership and adaptability.
Results for Greece are similar, the demand for digital skills will increase, which will have the largest effect on the IT and production and manufacturing sectors. 30% of Greek companies plan to increase their staffing in IT positions, which is 8 times more than those forecasting staff reductions, while companies working in manufacturing and manufacturing expect a 23% increase in staff.
Humans Wanted: Robots Need You provides practical recommendations and best practice examples from around the world to help organisations upskill their people and become more agile with the right combination of building, buying, borrowing and bridging talent.
