Millions of British workers fear being replaced by a robot in the workplace at some point in the future.
From taxi drivers and factory workers to highly-trained highly-skilled professionals, all are fearing the rise of the machines and believe their days are numbered, Protecting, a nationwide business law consultancy has found.
Protecting.co.uk spokesperson Mark Hall says:
“In fact, just about the only people who don’t fear for their future are business owners or managers,
“And that’s mainly because they think they’ll one day be managing a completely mechanised workforce, like some sort of evil overlord.”
Workers from a wide range of sectors were asked to take part in the survey and the majority believe that their jobs will be reduced to computerised processes within the next decade.
76 percent believe their job could be done by a robot, 56 percent fear their job could be merchandised in the next decade and 18 percent say some part of their job is already carried out by a robot. Only 24 percent believe their job is ‘machine proof’ and that they would not be replaced.
Ahmad, who’s a taxi driver said: “I’ve seen these driverless cars in America. Just hook them up to a sat-nav and I’m out of a job. Then what?”
Lewis is a journalist at a leading national publication: “We’ve already got machine translation and computers writing copy for major newspapers and news agencies. As an industry, I say we’re pretty much doomed. In fact, I know at least one publication where the horoscopes haven’t been touched by human hand for years.”
A police sergeant, who asked not to be identified said that the human element was important in his job, but: “There’s still a role to play for Robocop in policing. Document checks take up an awful lot of our time, self-service desks with computerised systems would take a lot of pressure off our desk staff.”
In comparison, some could see the benefit of ‘employing’ robots with repetitive or unpleasant processes. Commercial waste management company BusinessWaste said that robot workers could become a reality over key parts of the industry. “We’ve already got tech-driven sorting processes that can detect metals on a moving belt,” a spokesperson said, “It’s only a matter of time before collection becomes at least part automated. Self-driving bin lorries, anyone?”
Feature image courtesy of QuadrilinearFilter.
Amie Filcher is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
