There is a great fear among the construction workers that automation will take away their job which is highly baseless, say experts. A 2017 survey suggests that about 37% of people feel unsecured because the industry is getting highly automated. So how far is it true and whether it is as serious as we assume? Let us now take a look at it.
The concern is not new
The fear of automation in the construction business harming job opportunities is not new. Instead, it had been in the air for a long time and this apprehension had seriously blocked technology services from taking over the construction business for a decade and more. As a result, the profit and productivity were highly compromised.
While we take a look at the impact of automation in construction business, it is seen that automation is bringing in more investment and significantly contributing to financial gains.
Is automation a revolution?
While you think about technology in construction, initial thoughts might be of exoskeleton suits and robots. The replacement of skilled bricklayers with machines isn’t something that happened overnight. Instead, it came in over a long time and deep ground work was done to ensure the successful and smooth penetration of technology into the sector. It is expected to further contribute to the growth of the industry.
Automation in the construction business will come in three waves in the next decade. The algorithm is the automation of simple tasks such as payments and scheduling while augmentation will handle the automated statistical analysis of data and human-controlled UAVs. And the final wave will happen in the form of automation of labor.
Maybe, in the next decade, the industry will witness a cut of 15% of jobs globally. But that doesn’t mean the workforce is in deep danger, instead, they have got more options to augment their skills.
No research proves that automation is a serious and immediate threat and it won’t be like the entire workforce will be replaced with machines or robots. This is far from the truth.
While people commonly lament about job loss, they forget to realize that automation is also paving way for more job opportunities and the emergence of new technologies. Yes, roles are likely to change due to the emergence of new technologies, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will disappear altogether.
There is a change in skill set and mindset
While we look ahead to the emerging technology, we also need to be aware of our language and refrain from extremes and hyperbole. It may not be possible to automate every sector for many reasons including the resistance from the workforce.
However, it is also true that by adopting technology into the construction industry, we have made the sector safer and the laborious manual tasks will be either removed or improved for better. In addition, automation is also expected to augment the skills of around two-thirds of people in the future.
It is possible that the industry can alter the skill set of the workforce by harnessing the appetite for technology amongst digital natives and further re-training and establishing continuous learning programs. This would help companies to boost up the confidence among workers and make them more flexible.
The construction industry is currently sitting at a huge intersection. It is expected that technology solutions will be normal to the industry and sooner, construction companies will adopt them fully to achieve the optimum outputs. Sooner, construction companies would realize the full potential of automation and would make the best use of it. This would put an end to speculations that automation is a threat to jobs. Instead, this would help create more opportunities to rev up their skills.
