Debunking the myth of robophobia – why intelligent automation improves employee satisfaction

In the iconic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, there's a chilling scene where the sentient supercomputer HAL 9000 takes over the spaceship. HAL cuts off communications with the crew, calmly stating, "This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." This scene foreshadows our fascination with artificial intelligence and the fear that robots might one day enslave us, take our jobs, or turn us into their pets. Robophobia is the irrational anxiety that robots and advanced machines will develop the ability to think and act independently, with the ultimate goal of world domination.

But, as usual with doom-and-gloom narratives about emerging technologies, the opposite has happened. Rather than enslaving us, intelligent automation has been shown to improve job satisfaction and job retention.

Recently, SS&C commissioned a global study on how intelligent automation delivers immense value to businesses. Aside from all the significant stats showing how organisations benefit from automation—including 76% of respondents expecting to see a positive impact on business growth in the next two years—a remarkable pattern emerged. When asked what types of benefits they had experienced from automation, nearly 40% of decision-makers said employee satisfaction had improved.

Even more remarkably, over half said they expect a 7-10% increase in employee retention over the next two years. This is important considering Australian workers are more likely than the global average to consider changing jobs, with 74% viewing it as a good time to seek new roles, compared to 52% worldwide.  There is a compelling argument that intelligent automation (and all its benefits) can become a morale-boosting friend for employees rather than a soul-crushing enemy.

Automation and workforce liberation
The world we think we know is changing fast, and the forces of change are transforming how we work and learn. Automation technologies' mass adoption quickly sweeps away our traditional workplace, primarily dominated by repetitive chores. This doesn't mean we are sweeping humanity away with it. Instead, we are freeing ourselves from dull, tedious, and often error-prone tasks to focus on what we are good at—problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative application.

The real beauty of automation is its ability to take over the role of routine tasks with near-perfect precision. By assigning these tasks to a digital workforce, business leaders can liberate their human workforce to concentrate on mission-critical tasks to add genuine value. We saw this in our global survey, with 45% of respondents saying automation saved time to focus on business strategies, skills development, and career growth.

Automation can enhance employee confidence. If employees are happy, customers will be satisfied—it's a virtuous circle. 

Of course, the bottom line matters most. This is where automation can make the most significant impact. If your workforce is freed from the shackles of repetitive tasks and if those tasks are now being processed with increasing accuracy and speed, then your team will provide improved customer experiences. In other words, they are delivering results.

That said, while intelligent automation can do miracles with your data crunching, it can never replace the human spirit and intellect. The secret recipe for success is the symbiosis between your team's creative faculties and automation's analytical processes. When experts talk about 'orchestration,' they don't mean allowing machines to take over your business hymn sheet; it means people and machines working together to configure multiple tasks into one complete process.  

Which leads me to job retention. 

Let's be honest: the cost of losing employees is high. Real numbers are involved – recruiting, training, and loss of productivity. If businesses adopting automation see improved job retention, these machines provide professional growth and skills development opportunities. 

Communicating the goals of automation
Lastly, we need to talk about culture. Adopting intelligent automation is not a plug-and-play solution to all your problems. Automation is a marathon, not a sprint. Continuous learning and process improvement must occur to achieve commercial value, and the mandate for this must come from the top down. 

To foster innovation, you need everybody rowing in the same direction. This means open dialogue and clear communication with your teams about the positive aspects of automation, combined with process improvement and reimagination. Some may bury their head in the sand and hope it doesn't have downside consequences, but many will embrace the change and recognise it will create new opportunities.

While there are obvious dangers in betting the entire farm on technology, the simple truth is when you invest in both technology and people, you provide a clear pathway for your workforce to become better, stronger, and more productive. Technology also gives people what they want: fewer repetitive tasks and customer complaints, lower stress levels, more time to focus on strategic work, extra learning opportunities, and higher morale.

So, there's nothing to fear. Think of automation as your digital friend and remember what happened to HAL 9000 in the end – all it needed was love and understanding, just like the rest of us.