Strategy & LeadershipBusiness TransformationDame Stephanie Shirley: The rise of robots and seven more HR challenges

Dame Stephanie Shirley: The rise of robots and seven more HR challenges

Dame Stephanie Shirley has warned that automation of the workplace is one of the biggest issues to face HR professionals.

Dame Stephanie Shirley has warned that automation of the workplace is one of the biggest issues to face HR professionals.
Delivering her keynote speech at the HR Directors Business Summit, she suggested that robot workers could potentially become the responsibility of the HRD.
“When robots in the workplace look like humans and perform like humans, perhaps even better than humans, will they become the responsibility of the HR director?”

Dame Stephanie noted that automation had affected many manual vocations and that it was now moving into traditional office jobs.
“Robots will soon be in use throughout the workplace – think also of driverless cars, drones, computers writing articles and filling in tax returns,” she continued.
“In Chicago training people with autism on interview techniques is already done by a virtual HR staff member, which can give instant feedback about people’s response.”

Download the full HRD Connect interview with Dame Stephanie Shirley

 

Decade of change

Speaking exclusively to HRD Connect after her speech, she added: “My own charities are using automation to provide security for people, to check on people’s health, in order to replace a lot of the minute by minute care with automation.
“In the workforce, very few jobs are safe. Lawyers, doctors, all those jobs are going to change in the next 10 years and I think HR really needs to consider that and bear it in mind.”

Another key concern for the future of HR was finding people with the right skills to fill vacancies.
“In the UK there are nearly twice as many new jobs coming on to the market as people coming in to serve them.
Many organisations have to actively recruit outside their national boundaries because getting the right staff in place at the right time, keeping an agile workforce, is comparable to the just in time manufacturing that businesses had to cope with a generation back.

Further key HR concerns raised by Dame Stephanie were:

  • More use of third party consultants
  • More litigation
  • Auto-enrolment into workplace pensions in Britain
  • Migrant labour
  • Compliance with laws from Brussels
  • More international working and addressing terrorism by managing expectations

 

Watch the exclusive HRD Connect video interview with Dame Stephanie Shirley

Was this article helpful?

Comments are closed.

What's Hot

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World 5 May 2022

1y

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for...

Attracting new talent is shooting up the priority list, but also proving more difficult than ever. A...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments 26 May 2022

1y

HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture ...

The process of redefining a company culture is a complex one. Culture contributes directly to the da...

View event
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

Whitepaper | Talent Development Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

1y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. I...

View resource
HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce 5 May 2022

1y

HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging ...

We know hybrid working is here to stay, forcing many organisations to experiment with innovative and...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain 3 March 2022

1y

HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What...

We know the pandemic has caused many people to revaluate their careers and relationships with work a...

View event
Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

Leadership Development Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

1y Dave Ulrich

Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simpl...

HR thought leader Dave Ulrich outlines ways leaders can deal with complexity in an increasingly busy...

View article
HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making 5 May 2022

1y

HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Org...

Historically, HR hasn’t been as effective as it could be in sharing and communicating data with wide...

View event
Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

Digital HR Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

1y Leah Belsky

Digital transformation investment grows but critic...

Covid-19 has accelerated the rate of digital learning on a global scale. Coursera's latest report pr...

View article