New research from specialist recruiter Robert Half and global labour market trends experts Burning Glass indicates that demand for digital automation skills is set to double by the end of 2021 compared to pre-pandemic figures.
An analysis of nearly 9,000,000 UK job postings from Robert Half, a UK recruitment agency, has revealed that the number of jobs requiring automation capabilities is on course to reach around 90,000 this year, compared to 39,323 in 2019, with demand rising fastest in non-technical roles such as Management Consultants and Sales Directors.
Business News Wales chatted to the Director of Robert Half UK, Matt Weston about the latest figures and how digital automation will help employees in future.
Listen to the interview below.
Matt Weston said:
“We’re in an environment now with the advances in technology. You can see this in all the mega-trends that are going on in the world!”
He said that the advancements are creating a “very exciting time in the industry at the moment” and that the environment is very fast growing.
According to Robert Half UK, three strategies to help integrate automation into the workforce are:
- Find the quick wins: Look for opportunities to roll out easy proof of concept (PoC) trials or pilot programmes so that stakeholders across the business can see how such projects can work and learn how to go about introducing automation. PoC trials shouldn’t be hugely ambitious and therefore don’t necessarily require large amounts of technical knowledge to get started.
- Do a cost / benefit analysis: For each project, it’s essential for business leaders to understand how implementing an automated solution will affect the team, what the expected benefits are, and how much resources it will require. This helps to create a strategic approach to automation where the highest value opportunities are given priority.
- Think about the broader impacts: More broadly, apart from productivity and efficiency considerations, executives should consider conducting an impact analysis of the effects of automation on things like employee happiness, career development, and training and development so that they can anticipate and pre-emptively address these issues.
According to Weston, it is estimated that 21m UK workers will need digital upskilling over the next decade and automation needs to be a core element of such educational initiatives. But are employees really feeling the burnout?
