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Although prior waves of innovations have impacted the workplace before,
the current rise of robotics is likely to be the biggest disruption since the
first Industrial Revolution. Cognitive computing and artificial intelligence
enable robotics to perceive the world, interact with the workforce, analyze
and understand the information collected, and make fact-based decisions.
This creates solutions that can fundamentally change organizations.
According to Bill Gates, robotics is an unstoppable trend which will soon
be as ubiquitous as mobile phones are today. Google is investing heavily in
advanced robotics and politics asks for a robot-agenda. The World
Economic Forum argues that robotics will change business models, the
labor market, and the required skill-set of the workforce.
To keep up with the changes of society and to prevent falling behind the
competition, companies need to take this opportunity. They should use it
to their advantage by optimizing collaboration between robots and their
workforce. Robots can, on the one hand, take over tasks from the
workforce, which allows the workforce to focus on their core tasks. These
remaining tasks include complex thinking and higher-order reasoning. On
the other hand, robots can complement the wor
experience by providing guidance and recommendations. This combination
competitive potential to capture new
growth opportunities, and thereby empower the workforce of the future.
Organizations should explore robotics developments and prepare their
workforce so they will not fall behind. However, the workforce is far from
ready as there is an incomplete understanding of the future needs to be
able to collaborate with robots. In order to fill this gap, Accenture
interviewed twenty HR and innovation managers. Based on their opinions,
nine competences that will make the workforce of the future successful in
collaborating with robots are identified. Additionally, it is described how
the HR and innovation managers think organizations can develop these
competences among their workforce further. Lastly, examples of Accenture
thought leadership regarding the future of HR in a digital age are shared.
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Not in all departments of organizations,
there is a sense of urgency yet that robots are
increasingly entering the workforce.
Robots are not yet fully incorporated in
the contemporary culture and therefore the
ethical implications are still uncertain.
High quality and relevant results
delivered by robots still need to be proven.
Therefore, there is still a lack of trust in robots.
To optimize knowledge complementary
to the robot, different disciplines - as HR and
innovation - need to collaborate more.
As robots are taking over tasks, some
jobs will disappear and others will emerge, the
workforce needs to be prepared for this.
Differences in expected added value of
robots between generations exist as older
people know less about robotics.
Increase safety
Robots can help to improve the
circumstances of work, making it safer for the
workforce to do their job.
Robots help analyzing data
Robots can make data analysis faster
and better, which can help in making a
company more relevant to its clients.
Personalize client offers
By combining client-data in a smart way,
robots can help to make client-specific
offerings and thus personalize relationships.
Robots are self-learning
As robots are self-learning, they can
become smarter, which benefits the workforce.
Increase efficiency
Robots can help to increase
efficiency by taking over tasks of the
knowledge worker and optimizing processes.
Improve knowledge sharing
Robots improve the learning offering by
better simulations and knowledge storing, thus
enabling improved knowledge sharing.
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Competences are divided into knowledge, skills,
and abilities:
Knowledge concerns the specific information
that one needs to execute the job.
Skills refer to the manipulations of tools,
methods, and techniques that are needed to
meet the requirements that belong to the job
and these need to be learning.
Abilities are seen as the cognitive factors that
achievement. These are mostly innate.
Knowledge
One of the competences is categorized as
knowledge. This is the functional and industry
specific knowledge that the workforce needs to
successfully do their tasks. Having proper expert
knowledge in their respective field enables
knowledge workers to deliver work of high quality
in an effective way. As robots are taking over
pieces of the process, what is becoming
increasingly important to have a helicopter
overview of the complete process.
Skills
Four increasingly important competences to
complement robots are categorized as skills.
Interaction with robots concerns defining the
input of the robot in order to get the right
output, sharing knowledge with the robot, and
validating and improving output of the robot.
This is especially important as the robot is
likely to carry out tasks that are beyond the
capacity of the human brain, but the
workforce will still need to be able to analyze
and interpret the outcomes.
Technical know-how of robots is seen as being
able to program and control the software of
the robot, understand how it operates, and
keep training to improve the system. The
workforce will also need an increased
technical affinity in order to maximize the
value from the collaboration between robots
and the workforce.
Problem-solving entails the activity of working
through the components of a problem in order
to find the solution. This will gradually become
more important as the robot will take over all
standard tasks, so the workforce will only be
able to complement the work of the robot by
being able to solve and anticipate the
problems that arise in the non-standard
situations.
Data analytics refers to studying historical
data to see potential trends, analyze the
effects of certain decisions, or to evaluate the
performance of a given scenario. This is
becoming increasingly important as the robot
can detect basic patterns and thus the
workforce will be able to add value by
recognizing the deeper levels of patterns and
interpret the findings in a meaningful way.
We are far from ready for this, we
are still at the start. We want to
make progress but do not know
exactly how. - HR business partner Dutch multinational -
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Abilities
Four competences were classified as abilities.
Social intelligence involves being able to
manage complicated social connections and
situations, communicate with others,
showing empathy, collaborate with
colleagues, and to transfer information. This
is becoming increasingly important as it is
believed that social intelligence is a human
aspect which cannot be taken over by robots.
Leadership is a process of social influence,
which maximizes the efforts of others
towards the achievement of a goal. It is
believed that this will change in the future,
due to robots taking over the management
tasks, leaving the leadership tasks such as
developing a strategy, having a vision,
and anticipating the market to the workforce.
Creative innovation is the multi-stage process
whereby organizations transform ideas in a
creative way into new or improved products,
services, or processes. This is done to advance,
compete and differentiate themselves
successfully in the market. As the
developments are going very fast and the
competition is fierce, organizations
continuously need to innovate. This does not
only involve thinking of new and creative
ideas, but includes the execution as well.
Learning agility is concerned with the ability
to obtain knowledge. People need to be able
and willing to continuously develop
themselves and anticipate changes.
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Knowledge
The workforce already has extensive knowledge
of their function and industry. However, it is key
to apply this in the most effective way. To do so,
change management can help to maximize value.
The intrinsic motivation of the workforce needs
to be stimulated. Organizations have to present
integrated plans and align the complete picture.
An example of how this can be achieved is to
share knowledge on everyday problems. This
increases the understanding of how the
workforce can improve day-to-day activities.
Skills
Skills are in need of the largest development
compared to knowledge and abilities. They are
best developed by blended learning. The focus
will be on teaching the workforce how new
technical aspects are integrated in their jobs. For
example by learning from an expert how a robot
is designed and what the expected output is.
Combining training with day-to day practice will
maximize their experience with the required skill.
Abilities
As abilities are mostly innate, they can only be
developed if already present to some extent.
Abilities concerning the collaboration between
robots and the workforce can be stimulated by
change management. This helps to leverage
concerns of trust, an open mindset, and a sense
of urgency regarding robots entering the
corporate world. In this way, the right
circumstances are created. Moreover, it is
important to address and underline the intrinsic
motivation of the workforce. This is to enable
them to perform to the best of their ability.
I think people are open to
robotics, but do not know yet how
they can use it. There is
unfamiliarity and ignorance of
what the workforce can add. - Leading researcher innovation strategies
Other ways to develop competences
These methods of building competences are
mostly used in the long term. However, when
competences are needed on a short term, there
are other options as well, which include buying,
borrowing or renting. Buying competences is a
very common method. For example, recruiting
new talent is crucial in preparing the workforce
for the changes to come. Renting competences
by means of a contractor can also be an effective
way to acquire new competences. Another
option is to borrow competences. This can be
done by creating multidisciplinary teams with
other departments from within the organization
or start external partnerships with other
organizations. This way, the workforce can learn
from each other. Which specific intervention is
required to be successful in the future is
dependent on the circumstances of a situation.
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Having established that organizations and HR are not ready for the robots that will be entering the
corporate world, it needs to be determined how they can be prepared. HR can make a start with developing
the discussed competences among the workforce. However, more preparations are needed to keep up with
the changes of society and to prevent falling behind the competition:
Robotics is only one of many developments making the world more digital and that needs the workforce
to prepare for the future. Digital is rapidly reinventing the experience of people at work from how work
is organized, to the work people do, to the profile of the workforce and how workers are supported by new
practices and leadership approaches. To read more about how digital can make the workforce ready for
the future by making it more democratic, networked, and human, see Humanizing work through digital .
To keep up with these digital developments, the HR strategy needs to be adapted. Many organizations have
a HR strategy that is rather static, which prevents HR from serving different kinds of employees in a
flexible, cost-effective way. The creation of one-size-fits-all talent practices are not relevant to
workforce anymore. The results are slow reaction times, a lack of innovation, and fragmented solutions
that conflict with each other. Instead, innovative HR operating models that create and sustain more flexible
and integrated HR capabilities are needed. To read more about these HR, A new blueprint for HR .
Attracting, developing, and retaining talent is not anymore only the job of HR. HR is a distinctive capability
that should be embedded throughout the organization. This requires shattering the boundaries of HR so
that its skills become embedded in the core competencies of roles across the organization. To read more
about this topic Shattering the boundaries of HR .
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About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services
and outsourcing company, with
more than 358,000 people serving
clients in more than 120 countries.
Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive
capabilities across all industries
and business functions, and
most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with
clients to help them become high-
performance businesses and
governments. The company
generated net revenues of
US$31.0 billion for the fiscal year
ended Aug. 31, 2015. Its home
page is www.accenture.com.
About Accenture Consulting
Comprises the people who work in
our five operating groups:
Communications, Media &
Technology, Financial Services,
Health & Public Service, Products,
and Resources. They are industry
experts with the insights and
capabilities to help transform the
Accenture Consulting orchestrates
and brings together the best of
Accenture from across the
organization, and has primary
responsibility for building and
sustaining long-term client
relationships. For more
information, visit
www.accenture.com/consulting
About the author
Anne Laure Rouw is an intern at
Accenture. This research is related
to her study
Prepare for Robots in the Corporate
The study functioned as her
master thesis at Nyenrode Business
Universiteit. For questions about
the study or to order extra copies
please contact:
Edwin Knoop
edwin.knoop@accenture.com
Maaike Kleingeld
maaike.kleingeld@accenture.com
Laura Deleij
laura.deleij@accenture.com
Anne Laure Rouw
anne.laure.rouw@accenture.com
About the research
For this research, 20 HR and
Innovation managers from
organizations in The Netherlands
were interviewed. Their opinions
were combined into the
conclusions of this research.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture
All rights reserved.
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between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks. This document is produced by consultants at Accenture as general guidance. It is
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your Accenture representative.
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