Will millennials outsmart robots?

The demise of the future workplace at the hands of robots has been greatly exaggerated, according to research from Indeed.com, an American-based job-search website.

Statistics on Canadian jobseeking interests show millennial workers are well-positioned to beat the robots, according to Daniel Culbertson, an economist at Indeed in Austin.

The labour force is becoming more educated — 23.8 per cent of workers now have a university degree compared to 18.1 per cent in 2005, he said.

Additionally, millennials are showing greater interest in higher-skilled, non-routine occupations that are less likely to face replacement by automation. Just one in five workers in the millennial age group (ages 20 to 36) prefers a routine occupation, according to research compiled between September and March.

Data was collected from Indeed’s jobseeker activity, with researchers linking users’ inferred ages to their interest in broad classifications of jobs: non-routine cognitive, routine cognitive, non-routine manual and routine manual.

Baby boomers (ages 53 to 71) are 54 per cent more likely to be interested in routine manual jobs — including many occupations at risk of automation.

“Millennials do see the writing on the wall for some occupations, particularly those that are a little more well-known as being subject to risk of automation — like production or transportation,” said Culbertson. “That sticks in people’s minds.”

Aware of what’s happened in manufacturing over the last 20-plus years — including job losses to automation — millennials are much more interested in white-collar gigs with more investment in training and education, he said.

“The other factor at play is the difference in skill sets and education levels for millennials and boomers. If you think about the technological innovation that we’ve had in the past 15 or 20 years, that really drives a wedge between the skill sets and backgrounds for millennials and boomers, and we see that in jobseekers’ preferences.”

Natural progression

As automated technology in the labour market progresses, workers in many sectors will likely see portions of their job threatened by machines or software. But millennials are better situated to ride out the disruption, said Culbertson.

While the rise of automation at the expense of human jobs continues in several industries, Indeed’s report should reduce the fears of the future being instilled by many experts, he said.

“I wish that people would take a more balanced and nuanced approach to (automation). New jobs are always being created just as old jobs are being wiped out by automation — it’s not always a destructive force. This is an instance where people know which skills they need to acquire and which ways they can be a compliment to automation and not a victim to it.”

The shift in job preference is a natural one, according to Michelle Dagnino, a generational expert and senior engagement associate at Lura Consulting in Toronto.

“Millennials are much less scared about losing their jobs than their parents were, in part because many more have a skill set that is more widespread,” she said. “I don’t think they’re coming into a particular job having trained for that work and only that work. They’re expecting to have different jobs and to move from one place to another much more quickly.”

Not unlike working generations before them, millennials are shying away from skills and roles that are easily replaceable, said Dagnino.

“Millennials are responding to a changing workforce more so than the workplace is changing for millennials,” she said. “Work is looking much more piecemeal with the way that technology invades every day of our work. It has shifted the expectations of when and how we do work, and the average job no longer looks like a typical 9-to-5 job where we have a list of tasks to check off on our list. There’s never quite a sense of being done.”

Robot-beating roles

HR is one of several careers that should withstand the advance of robotics, said Culbertson. Others include cybersecurity experts, data scientists, health-care professionals and culinary roles.

“Activities that will be hard to automate will always be those that involve managing and developing people, and where decision-making and strategic planning or creative work are involved,” he said. “Machines have the potential to make the workplace more efficient by automating mechanical and routine processes, but humans will always play a key role.”

Jobseeker interest in recruiter roles has risen by 14 per cent over the last year, said Culbertson. As data and analytics become more widespread in HR, professionals who combine soft skills with software expertise are best suited for success.

“With all the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) that are coming quicker these days, a small aspect of many different occupations are at risk to some software coming in and taking over some of those tasks,” he said. “But HR, having a decision-making component and a human interaction and cognitive component, is relatively more safe than other occupations.”

Workplace environments are changing with the rise of the gig economy and independent contract work, according to Arash Samimi, a Toronto entrepreneur who helps Canadian newcomers and under-skilled workers find employment.

As routine-oriented jobs in sectors such as manufacturing, transportation and retail are replaced by machines, the importance of soft skills rises, he said.

“Softer skills development, and skills that we need to adapt to the changes in the economy, are the skills we need to learn,” said Samimi. “My advice would be to learn the skills that are required that will satisfy these changes in the landscape of the economy — changes driven by these technologies.”

Rather than focus on niche skills, today’s workers should spend time learning about leadership, cross-cultural competency, how to understand data, new media literacy and design mindsets, he said.

Advice for HR

Employers need to rethink the skill sets required for specific jobs, and work to motivate and retain the employees they have already invested in, said Dagnino.

“Employers need to think differently around whether they’re bringing somebody in to do a particular task associated with a particular job, or whether they should be training to do the work of the organization as a whole,” she said.

“That’s a real shift in terms of how employers think.”

HR recruiters should seek out employees with the ability to move fluidly between roles, said Dagnino.

“They have to hire people that are the right fit for the organization and believe in the mandate and the mission of the organization,” she said.

“Once you have that commitment, employers need to take a much broader lateral approach to training. What are the core skills that are required across any job? What are your five common traits across your job descriptions? What are the common key skill sets? And then start hiring people according to that.”

Organizational mindsets should change from short-term job matching to longer-term thinking, according to Samimi.

“How can we assess people based on a skill, rather than their title?” he said. “A lot of this is around changing this mindset, which is a big thing.”

“There used to be a lot more on-the-job training, whereas now industry is looking for a whole package,” said Samimi. “Well, you can’t find it. You need to invest in the employee. It’s a process of learning by doing, experiencing and refining.”