Most Indian professionals welcome automation in jobs: Survey

Mumbai: With automation slowly gain ground, 87 percent of the respondents in a survey saw the process as having a positive impact on their current work situation.

"About 87 percent of those surveyed view automation as a positive impact on their current work situation with 78 percent stating confidence in their future job prospects," according to Michael Page India's 'India Automation' report.

Despite market reports of the fear around automation taking over jobs, a majority of the professionals surveyed were optimistic about retaining their employment.

"India has embarked on a journey of transformation to become a digital and innovation hub with its various initiatives like 'Digital India' and 'Skill India'.

"The government's vision to build an integrated learning platform to upskill the workforce at different career stages plays a key part in mitigating employment risks," said Michael Page India Managing Director Nicolas Dumoulin.

The report surveyed 1,034 professionals from varied industries like banking and financial services (17 per cent), engineering and manufacturing (11 per cent), finance and accounting (11 per cent) and healthcare and life sciences (10 per cent).

The survey revealed that respondents were realistic about the possible challenges of automation and 85 per cent were considering the acquisition of new skills to stay relevant in their respective industries.

In the wake of automation, respondents expect the data security (38 per cent), e-commerce (28 per cent), financial technology (25 per cent) and mobile communications (9 per cent) industries to be the greatest job creators, it added.

According to the findings, the top three possible benefits of automation and robotics are increased speed (27 per cent), accuracy (24 per cent) and higher cost-efficiencies (24 per cent).

"Corporates embracing automation will open doors for newer skilled force at the strategic and entry levels. As we head towards 2030, there will be a paradigm shift towards the next digitisation revolution, where the demand for additional speed and power to produce more will grow," Dumoulin said.

He said organisations will play a vital role in enabling their talent to adapt to new changes.

"The workforce needs to be armed with innovative tools and training to empower themselves in the new digital world," he added.