Rise of Robots Reduces Meaning and Control in Many Jobs
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Industrial robots make workers feel their jobs are less meaningful and that they have less autonomy. Doubling robots leads to a 1% drop in autonomy.
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Robots reduce human interaction, problem solving, learning opportunities, and skill use. But they also eliminate dull repetitive tasks.
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The negative effects can be partly offset by giving workers control of the computers and robots, especially for autonomy. Education and skill also help.
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Robots have increased in industries, like mining (26x increase 2005-2020). A similar 7.5x increase in food & beverage would lower meaningfulness and autonomy by almost 7%.
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Understanding these effects on workers is important to maintain productivity, health, and avoid turnover.