Technological Unemployment and HR Role

 

Source: (Kostopoulos, 2018).

 What is Technological Unemployment?

 The need for human labour is diminishing in many occupations due to technological advancements, automation, and the mechanisation of manufacturing processes. This is known as technological unemployment (Klimczuk-Kochańska & Klimczuk, 2015). An aspect of structural unemployment, technological unemployment is linked to the reorganisation of agriculture and industry as well as the decline in demand for certain occupations. A worker's ability to retrain or switch occupations determines whether their unemployment is short or permanent.            

Watch this video to bettter understand about Technological Unemployment.

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiLSlQ15W0

  Source: (Marr, 2024)

What does this Mean for Job Market?

Automation of human-intensive processes is becoming more common as technology advances. There will be an oversupply of workers in several fields as a result of the decline in demand for their services. On the other side, it creates room for different kinds of jobs in tech-driven industries, which means people will need to reskill and get more education to fill these new positions creating undersupply (Lima, et al., 2021).

                Sourve: (SHRM, 2024)

HR’s Evolving Role in Technological Unemployment

Source: (Sofiah, 2024)

 As a result of technological unemployment, the workforce is changing at a rapid pace, and Human Resources (HR) must rethink its tactics and responsibilities to keep up with the digital age's complexity. Here are some tactits to manage technological unenployemnet.

·  Workforce planning and strategy: 

      HR departments must anticipate how technology will affect employee needs. They must engage in strategic planning to handle job demand change. This entails identifying duties that can be automated and those that will be developed. This requires a thorough understanding of technological trends and their potential effects on the industry.

·      Recruitment & Talent Acquisition: 

      As demand for tech-driven jobs rises, HR must adapt its recruiting methods to attract qualified candidates. This may include redefining job descriptions, searching for new talent pools, and using technology to find skilled candidates.

· Training and Development: 

      HR must prioritise training and development to address the skills gap generated by technology advances. This requires retraining and retraining current workers to fill new tasks and keeping the workforce agile and adaptable to future technology advances.

· Employee Engagement: 

     Technology changes may cause people to worry and lose interest in their careers. HR manages the human side of these developments, including communicating how technology will affect work and helping with transitions. When workers can engage in change and have clear career paths, morale and retention may improve.

· Organizational Culture and Change Management: 

      HR shapes organisational culture and change management. They must help create a culture of innovation, learning, and adaptability as technology changes work. This will help the company manage the change and take advantage of technology advances.

 In Conclusion:

 There is a chance for human resources to fulfil a transformational agenda in today's workplace, despite the fact that the growth of technological unemployment threatens conventional ideas of labour. Human resources can turn the challenges posed by automation into opportunities for innovation and development by rethinking the recruiting process, placing a premium on lifelong learning, and encouraging a culture of change. Human resources experts play a key role in shaping the workforce of the future and are therefore essential to change management. This way, HR can guarantee that, when work changes, it does so in a way that benefits all employees and doesn't harm the environment, all while maximising productivity.

References

Kostopoulos, L., 2018. Life After Technological Unemployment: Not Necessarily Gloom & Doom. [Online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/life-after-technological-unemployment-necessarily-doom-kostopoulos/[Accessed 28 March 2024].

Klimczuk-Kochańska, M. & Klimczuk, A., 2015. Technological Unemployment. The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty, 2nd Edition, p. 1510–1511. [Online] Available athttps://philarchive.org/archive/KLITU. [Accessed 28 March 2024].

Lima, Y., Barbosa, C. E., Santos, H. S. d. & Souza, J. M. d., 2021. Understanding Technological Unemployment: A Review of Causes, Consequences, and Solutions. Socienties, 11(2), p. 50. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/2/50 [Online] Available at: [Accessed 28 March 2024].

Marr, B., 2024. What is Technological Unemployment? Simple Explanation In 1 Minute. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiLSlQ15W0 [Accessed 28 March 2024].

SHRM, 2024. How AI and Automation Will Transform the Future of Wof Work. [Online]

Available at: https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/all-things-work/technology-future-work-way-will-go [Accessed 28 March 2024].

Sofiah, A., 2024. The evolving role of HR in the digital economy: Top in-demand skills for HR professionals. [Online] Available at: https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/the-evolving-role-of-hr-in-the-digital-economy-top-in-demand-skills-for-hr-professionals

[Accessed 28 March 2024].