The Impact Of Automation On Employee Rights: A Critical Analysis

Research Issue

With the advent of science and technological progress, automation or automatic control of the operational equipments of the organization enable the management authority of an organization accomplish its daily mechanical activities without depending on a huge workforce. While the scope and economic benefits of automation is enormous, simply because it facilitates the creation as well as application of technology, that can help in monitoring the delivery of products and services, its impact on the basic employment rights of the workers of the industry is terrible (Beck, 2014). Such a capital-intensive approach, though can be termed beneficial for the organization itself, it cannot be termed beneficial for the human resources working across the globe. This paper intends to discuss the potential problem of replacement of human resources by the robots and technological tools, analyse the issue of violation of employee rights, and suggest the ways this problem can be addressed through effective recommendations.

The increased reliance of the organizations on technology can cause violation of the employee rights, simply because each of the employees working in an organization has the right to be retained in the company as long as he is willing to work productively. However, the implementation of automated tools and equipments in the organization will always be likely to lead to the termination of services. Again, it is no less important to state that by installing automated surveillance system in the organization (Investigator 2.0 and Silent Watch), an employer can keep a track on every keystroke the employee makes on the computer. This is also an example of the violation of employee rights of privacy (Arntz et al., 2016). Considering the detrimental impact of automation on business, it is important to understand how automation is harming the basic employment and privacy rights of the employees, and how the same can be addressed in future.

Before analysing how automation is contributing to the violation of the basic rights of the employees, it is important to understand the concept of employee rights and what it comprises of. Each of the workers working in an organization is expected to enjoy a set of legal and human rights, which includes right to equality, fair compensation, right to privacy and freedom, and just and favourable conditions of work. However, despite the strict regulatory framework protecting the rights of the workers, the workers are on the verge of being replaced by robots and automated tools, that can produce similar work at lesser cost and higher efficiency rate (Bessen , 2016). Now, the continual and relentless pressure on every organization, conducting business in a highly competitive market, to reduce the operational cost, is compelling various companies to utilize technological innovation to produce goods and offer service in a cost-effective way. Consequently, it is needless to state here that starting with check-in terminals to any sophisticated manufacturing company, most of the recognized organizations have found their ways on automating their operational process in an effort to reduce the operational cost. It is profitable for any company to replace its worker by machines and robots, as they would never bargain for higher pay, nor will take lunch breaks and sick leaves (Autor, 2014). However, each worker is entitled to a variety of workplace rights, and one of the important employment laws clearly states that no employee can be dismissed from his job without having any authentic and justified reason. However, automation is bound to lead to the violation of this basic worker rights. There is no gain stating the fact that already a large number of service and manufacturing companies have started replacing their workers with machines and robots. Especially, the jobs which require repeatable duties and more manual labour can easily be replaced, though human cognition is also likely to lead to the problem. While rising unemployment in various sectors is indeed a major problem across the globe, the loss of job security of the female workers is even greater than the male counterparts. The specific organizational sectors where usually the women are employed, such as cash registrar operators or supermarket sorters, the sectors can easily accomplish the organizational procedures without any human assistance. The employment right of job security is at stake as more and more employees are losing out their jobs to robots and technological devices. According to a recent research study conducted by Oxford University, approximately 47% of the jobs of today’s world are likely to be automated away in the coming 20 years (Brown, 2016).

Discussion

Again, it is equally important to note here that the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also stated that each employee working in an organization should be offered the basic right to enjoy privacy at workplace (John et al., 2015). The automated devices and tools are able to monitor the click stream data as well and while there is nothing wrong in monitoring the performance of the employees at workplace, having technological access to each and every whereabouts of the employees is highly unacceptable, and results in the violation of the basic employee rights. The 1990 survey conducted by the American Management Association claimed that approximately 45% of the US companies conducted some or other sort of surveillance on the daily activities, and not just performance, of the employees (Groover, 2016). Thus, though this point is less acknowledged, there can be no punt denying the fact that automation not only leads to the violation of job security rights, but also their rights to privacy as well. While there can be no harm in the employer trying to gain access to the work-related information of the specific employees, it is highly objectionable if the employer is trying to gain access to the personal information of the employees as well. If automation encroaches upon the privacy of the employees, it is highly important to address the issues and adopt strategies that can protect them from privacy suits.

Analysis of the Issue: Root Causes of the Problem:

There is no gain stating that automation has led to the creation of much panic and anxiety amongst the workers working in an organization. While in the era of automation and technological innovation, unemployment is emerging to be a major problem, challenging employee well-being, it is important to analyse the probable causes of the issue. First of all, it has become the easiest option for companies to replace the human workers by robots, simply because they are more productive and efficient at work, and yet cannot complain of exploitation of labour. It is important to mention here that SaviOne, a recent robot can act as an efficient butler, delivering snacks and drinks to each hotel room, rand riding the elevator, and working continually, without taking rest or going to the bathroom. Most importantly, there is no staff turnover issue with the robots at a time, when American Hotel and Logistic Association claims that it experiences the problem of staff turnover of around 50% in non-management staff designations (Sergeyev, 2017). Not only the service industry, but the manufacturing and food processing industry is also experiencing technological disruption leading to employee termination of service. A US food processing company, Momentum Machines, had created a burger flipping robot that is capable of producing burgers every 10 seconds, and needless to state that its efficiency rate is much higher than that of any human worker. This clearly shows how an increased rate of automated machine efficiency is an important reason why workers’ rights to job security are getting violated. At the same time, it should be noted that lower headcount implies lesser expenditure on employees and higher revenue growth. No wonder, Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram with just 13 employees bears testimony to the same. By contrast, Kodak was filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and it had employed 145,000 people during its peak (Elleithy & Sobh, 2016). Again, similarly, the reason behind the use of automation in monitoring personal information of the employees lies in the fact that they want to ensure the productivity at workplace, and prevent the distraction of the employees at workplace owing to the presence of internet. Besides, they also wish to guard the trade secrets from being divulged by any of the employees to a third party.

Analysis of the Issue: Root Causes of the Problem

Technological innovation and resultant automation are highly progressive issues, and blocking innovation will be nothing more than a short-sighted step. However, since robotic technology is leading to the destruction of jobs, it is important to recommend a few actions that can help in the protection of employee rights. First of all, the individual decisions by the companies will only lead to employee exploitation. Hence, collective solutions are needed whereby the government, academic institutions as well as the private companies and labour unions should come forward to re-skill and re-tool the human resources, so that they can be provided unique skills and expertise which will make them irreplaceable. The next way of persevering employee right is governmental intervention in revising the tax structures of the companies. As companies will boost more profit by shedding workers, and automating their works, they will increase the liability of the government to look after more and economically dependent, jobless workers. These organizations should be compelled to pay a higher trade tax to the government, as well as a labour and employment law tax, for compensating the loss of jobs of a minimum number of employees. The fear of paying additional tax can definitely help in reducing the problem. Similarly, to prevent employee surveillance, the US government should formulate sound rules that can control and limit the surveillance coverage of the employees at workplace.

Conclusion:

While the advancement in robotics and artificial intelligence helps a company boost its revenue and sales growth, it is also likely to put a vast amount of labour force out of work. Hence, it is recommended to upgrade the skills of the workers, and enable them to work more on jobs that require creativity and human cognition rather than mere manual labour. Human cognition is  still irreplaceable, and will continue to be the same in the decades to come. 

Reference List:

Arntz, M., Gregory, T., & Zierahn, U. (2016). The risk of automation for jobs in OECD countries: A comparative analysis. OECD Social, Employment, and Migration Working Papers, (189), 0_1.

Autor, D. H., Dorn, D., Hanson, G. H., & Song, J. (2014). Trade adjustment: Worker-level evidence. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(4), 1799-1860.

Beck, U. (2014). The brave new world of work. John Wiley & Sons.

Bessen, J. E. (2016). How computer automation affects occupations: Technology, jobs, and skills.

Brown, R. K. (Ed.). (2016). The changing shape of work. Springer.

Elleithy, K., & Sobh, T. (2016). 2016 Annual Connecticut Conference on Industrial Electronics, Technology and Automation (CT-IETA) University of Bridgeport Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA October 14-15, 2016.

Groover, M. P. (2016). Automation, production systems, and computer-integrated manufacturing. Pearson Education India.

John, K., Knyazeva, A., & Knyazeva, D. (2015). Employee rights and acquisitions. Journal of Financial Economics, 118(1), 49-69.

Sergeyev, A. (2017). Meeting Twenty-first Century Robotics and Automation Workforce Needs in the USA. In Robotics in STEM Education (pp. 171-194). Springer, Cham.