Hiring Seen Rising Along With Automation

Despite growing worries among some U.S. workers about the deployment of automation and machine learning, a new survey finds that U.S. technology companies also plan to boost workforce hiring over the next three years.

The survey of U.S. tech CEOs released by the consulting firm KPMG found that workforce hiring would likely grow in parallel with “digital labor” through the end of the decade. KPMG reported that hiring at technology companies is expected to jump 6 percent over the next three years.

The survey results could assuage growing concerns among technology workers that automation and machine-learning tools threaten their livelihood. A survey released earlier this year by market analyst Accenture Strategy found several hurdles to adoption of machine learning, including a “trust gap within the managerial ranks.”

The KPMG survey counters that the “coexistence between human employees and cognitive systems is creating a new class of digital labor that can enhance human skills and expertise, allowing employees to innovate constantly.”

Nevertheless, about 75 percent of U.S. tech CEOs told the pollsters that machine learning and other automation tools are likely to replace at least 5 percent of manufacturing, technology, sales and marketing jobs over the next three years. Still, more than half (55 percent) said they expect hiring to rise by at least 6 percent as companies struggle to plug a widening skills gap in areas like data science.

The rise of new data science programs at U.S. universities, many backed by corporate sponsors, could deliver a new batch of trained knowledge workers with big data and analytics skills.

“Tech CEOs see the benefits of digital labor augmenting workforce capabilities and enabling new ways of doing business to add customer value, improve efficiencies and reduce cost,” Gary Matuszak, head of KPMG’s technology, media and telecommunication practice, noted in a statement. “They see the combination of digital and human labor as an effective way to execute their strategy.”

As companies strive to upgrade their operations, 60 percent of tech executives said they expect to accelerate their digital strategies by hiring a fresh crop of trained workers. Partnerships and technology alliances also were cited as key tactics.

Along with data science skills, CEOs most often cited the need for greater security as more products and services are delivered via cloud platforms.

While CEOs remain bullish about digital automation, IT managers and others working in the trenches remain skeptical. The Accenture study released in January found that only 46 percent of high-level managers said they would trust advice provided by intelligent systems. By contrast, only 24 percent of mid-level managers expressed strong support for the technology. Perhaps fearful of being replaced by a machine, only 14 percent of front-line managers surveyed showed enthusiasm for working with intelligent machines.

Hence, Accenture researchers acknowledged that the rise of machine intelligence in the workplace will take some getting used to, meaning for now there is “no clear path to realizing the opportunity [that extends from] automation to augmentation.”

KPMG said it surveyed 138 U.S. technology CEOs from Internet, hardware, software, cloud and IT services companies.

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