52% of workers are happy for AI to take over the boring parts of their jobs

A new global study by tech giant Lenovo reveals that technology creates more diverse work environments. 58% of people believe technology is already helping to create a more diverse work environment – with just 8% disagreeing. Another 58% believe tech helps people to enhance their careers. 52% of people are happy for AI to take over the “boring” parts of their jobs, over double the figure that are against it (20%).

The research, which surveyed over 15,000 individuals from around the globe including the US, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Japan, UK, Germany, France and Italy, found that while more than half (51 percent) of those surveyed expressed some concern that new technology could “eliminate their jobs”, there is nearly equally widespread optimism in the potential of automation. For example, a slightly higher number of people (52%) said they are “extremely” or “very interested” in having automation take over the more tedious aspects of their jobs. This includes more time-consuming tasks such as paperwork (45%), timesheets and invoices (39%), cleaning and organising (37%) and notetaking (36%).

There are many other positives shared among global employees regarding technology and its role in the workplace, such as its ability to improve job opportunities and job quality. 58% of people strongly believe tech helps people like them get good jobs and make careers, with employees in China (75%), India (73%) and Mexico (72%) being the most positive regarding the impact technology can have on their careers.

A similar number (56%) strongly believe tech is making it easier to advance to the next career level. This rang most true among workers in India (85%), Mexico (74%) and Brazil (72%). When it comes to productivity, exactly half of the global respondents said they believe their smart devices save them at least 30 minutes each day by helping them to get things done faster and more efficiently.

When it comes to corporate social responsibility, there’s a shared belief among people around the world that technology companies should contribute to the common good, with just under a third (30%) stating their main role should be to strengthen economies and create new jobs.

Bob O’Donnell, President and Chief Analyst, TECHnalysis Research, commented:

“While it’s easy to get caught up in some of the legitimate concerns about technology’s potential impact on workers, it’s even easier to forget how many incredible things that our tech devices are doing to make our jobs easier and more rewarding. The benefits that tech devices enable – from immediate face-to-face conversations with colleagues all over the world to the simplification and automation of tedious tasks – are having a significantly more profound impact on today’s workplace than anything we’ve seen before. The future they will enable promises to make our work environments even more interesting and productive.”

Dilip Bhatia, Vice President of User and Customer Experience, Lenovo, commented:

“The next generation workforce, who expect more flexible working methods, have grown up with always-on technology. They are driving faster adoption in business environments, thus blurring the distinction between consumer and commercial technology as well as using technology for effective work-life integration. Lenovo’s latest study shows that there is widespread optimism around the unlocked potentials of smarter technology to positively transform the workplace to meet the needs of this future workforce – from smart office set-ups and ultra-portable productivity devices to video conferencing tools. We believe Lenovo’s vision of enriching and enhancing lives at work and at home through smarter technology for all is a step in the right direction to meet the requirements of tomorrow’s workforce.”

Ezitracker team comments:

"It’s really interesting to see that a slightly higher number of people (52%) said they are “extremely” or “very interested” in having automation take over the more tedious aspects of their jobs. This includes more time-consuming tasks such as paperwork (45%), timesheets and invoices (39%), cleaning and organising (37%) and notetaking (36%). FM service providers already using our workforce management technology can easily add the robots into the workforce mix to help with all these tasks.

Artificial intelligence in facilities management means eliminating uncertainty and letting the computers do the thinking, freeing up time for Managers to streamline processes, achieve optimum levels of productivity and boost long-term profitability. We already know that implementing robots into an existing cleaning programme both reduces the health and safety risks associated with cleaning and improves the time management of other cleaning duties. Once a robotic workflow is planned and implemented, a site-specific schedule is created, and staff are trained to become ‘Robot Assisted Cleaners" who are proficient in the distribution and management of the robots. This process then becomes the cleaner's task. Then smartphone and mobile technology and in-app communication tools deliver added value by allowing them to log these completed tasks. Contract compliance checks can then happen in real-time, remotely. For managers and their clients, this knowledge is power. We fully expect that the concept of ‘Smart Facilities Management' will become the standard and transform cleaning contractor businesses from reactive to proactive and predictive."