Portfolio Milestone: Option 1 — Future Of The Workplace Plan ✓ Solved

Portfolio Milestone: Option 1 — Future of the Workplace Plan

Select Option #1: Future of the Workplace. Compose a paper that:

- Provides a general overview on the rise in the use of robots and artificial intelligence in the workplace.

- Presents evidence that the use of robots and artificial intelligence is increasingly replacing employment traditionally performed by humans, including the level and scope of this trend.

- Assesses how this trend has affected the promise and security of continued employment in the United States economy, including how the nature and type of employment is changing for the typical US worker (e.g., more part-time employment or static wages).

- Presents the criteria a human resource professional should review before determining whether a position should be filled by a robot or through artificial intelligence.

- Discusses how these trends will affect the role of human resources, including recruitment, compensation, labor relations, risk and liability management, and organizational effectiveness.

- Discusses the role and duty a human resource professional has to ensure employment for employees and the responsibilities HR should assume for workers displaced by robots and artificial intelligence.

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

The adoption of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) in workplaces across sectors is accelerating, reshaping tasks, occupations, and organizational structures. This paper synthesizes evidence on the rise of automation and AI, evaluates impacts on employment security and job quality in the United States, outlines decision criteria HR professionals should apply when considering automation, and discusses implications for HR functions and responsibilities to displaced workers.

Rise of Robots and AI in the Workplace

Robotics and AI adoption has expanded from manufacturing into services, logistics, finance, healthcare, and customer service. Advances in machine learning, computer vision, and robotics hardware have made automation of routine cognitive and manual tasks commercially viable (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014; McKinsey Global Institute, 2017). Businesses deploy robotic process automation (RPA) for back-office tasks, autonomous vehicles for warehousing and delivery pilots, and conversational AI for customer interactions (Davenport & Ronanki, 2018).

Evidence of Job Displacement: Level and Scope

Empirical studies show automation substitutes for labor in routine tasks and occupations, particularly manufacturing, administrative support, and repetitive service roles (Autor, 2015; Frey & Osborne, 2013). Acemoglu and Restrepo (2018) estimate that industrial robots lowered employment-to-population ratios and wages in affected commuting zones in the U.S. However, the net effect varies: new job creation in tech, maintenance, and complementary occupations offsets some losses (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017; Bessen, 2019). Sectorally, manufacturing and low-complexity routine services have experienced the highest direct substitution; diffusion into white-collar professions now threatens routine analytical and diagnostic tasks (World Economic Forum, 2020).

Impact on Employment Security and Job Quality

Automation has contributed to job polarization: growth in high-skill cognitive roles and low-skill service roles, with declines in middle-skill routine jobs (Autor, 2015). For many U.S. workers, this results in precarious employment patterns—more contingent or part-time work and stagnant real wages for displaced cohorts (OECD, 2019). While some displaced workers transition to higher-skilled occupations, others face long-term unemployment or underemployment, widening inequality (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2018; ILO, 2021). The speed of technological adoption, combined with slower retraining systems, intensifies insecurity for mid-career workers in affected occupations.

Criteria for HR Decision-Making on Automation

Human resource professionals should apply a multi-criteria framework before replacing a role with robots or AI:

  • Task analysis: Identify tasks that are routine, measurable, and automatable versus those requiring creativity, empathy, or complex judgment (Autor, 2015).
  • Cost-benefit and ROI: Compare total cost of automation (capital, integration, maintenance) with labor costs and quality/throughput gains (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017).
  • Quality, safety, and reliability: Assess whether automation maintains or improves service quality and safety standards (Davenport & Ronanki, 2018).
  • Legal, ethical, and compliance considerations: Evaluate data privacy, discrimination risk, and regulatory obligations that affect automated decision-making (World Economic Forum, 2020).
  • Workforce impact and transition costs: Consider the social and morale costs, reputation, retraining, severance, and redeployment feasibility (OECD, 2019).
  • Strategic fit and flexibility: Determine whether automation aligns with long-term strategy and allows adaptability to changing conditions (Bessen, 2019).

Effects on Human Resource Functions

Automation changes HR responsibilities across core functions:

  • Recruitment: Demand shifts toward AI, data analytics, and technology management skills. HR must source hybrid talent and design roles combining human strengths with machine capabilities (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014).
  • Compensation: Pay structures will need to reflect scarce technical skills and may incorporate pay for upskilling and continuous learning incentives (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017).
  • Labor relations: Automation can trigger collective bargaining over job security, redeployment, and reskilling protections; HR must engage stakeholders and negotiate transition frameworks (ILO, 2021).
  • Risk and liability management: HR must collaborate with legal and IT to manage algorithmic bias, data breaches, and workplace safety in human-robot interactions (World Economic Forum, 2020).
  • Organizational effectiveness: Change management, reskilling programs, and workforce planning become central HR activities to preserve productivity and morale (Davenport & Ronanki, 2018).

HR Duty to Displaced Workers

Human resources has an ethical and pragmatic duty to mitigate harm from displacement. Responsibilities include proactive workforce planning, investing in reskilling and upskilling programs, redeployment pathways, and comprehensive outplacement and counseling services (OECD, 2019). HR should design lifelong learning incentives, apprenticeships, and partnerships with educational institutions to bridge skill gaps (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017). Where displacement is unavoidable, fair severance, phased transitions, and assistance to access social supports are minimum obligations. At a policy level, HR leaders should advocate for public-private collaboration on unemployment insurance, retraining subsidies, and regional economic development to absorb displaced labor (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2018).

Conclusion and Expected Outcomes

Robots and AI will continue to transform job content and demand across the U.S. economy. HR professionals who apply rigorous task-based assessments, adopt ethical decision frameworks, and prioritize reskilling and humane transition policies can reduce adverse social impacts while enabling organizational competitiveness. Expected outcomes of responsible HR practice include higher rates of successful redeployment, improved organizational agility, reduced legal and reputational risk, and stronger long-term employee engagement (Bessen, 2019; World Economic Forum, 2020).

References

  • Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2014). The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2018). Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Work. NBER Working Paper No. 24196.
  • Autor, D. H. (2015). Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3), 3–30.
  • Bessen, J. E. (2019). AI and Jobs: The Role of Demand. NBER Working Paper No. 24235.
  • McKinsey Global Institute. (2017). A Future that Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity. McKinsey & Company.
  • Davenport, T. H., & Ronanki, R. (2018). Artificial Intelligence for the Real World. Harvard Business Review, 96(1), 108–116.
  • Frey, C. B., & Osborne, M. A. (2013). The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, 254–280.
  • World Economic Forum. (2020). The Future of Jobs Report 2020. WEF.
  • OECD. (2019). OECD Employment Outlook 2019: The Future of Work. OECD Publishing.
  • International Labour Organization (ILO). (2021). The Role of Labour Markets and Social Protection in the Transition to a Digital Economy. ILO Research Brief.

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