Member Article

Office of the future revealed, but are businesses ready?

Henley Business School predicts that by 2030 most of the UK graduate workforce will be working with Artificial Intelligence (AI) on a daily basis. With the average worker currently spending 3.5 hours a week on admin tasks, ‘AI assistants’ could give workers back 12 working days a year Despite this, three quarters (74%) of business leaders are currently not preparing their employees with the skills needed to adapt to an AI-integrated workplace – and nearly half of British workers (46%) don’t understand what AI is Henley reveals insight on how business leaders can embrace AI at its World of Work: 2030 conference, and reveals image of the ‘office of the future’

Experts at Henley Business School have today announced that the majority of the graduate workforce in the UK will be working with AI on a daily basis by 2030, with technology such as ‘AI assistants’ expected to be commonplace in the next decade.

Brand new research released at Henley’s annual World of Work 2030 conference, found that a third (35%) of UK workers are excited about the prospect of their own personal AI assistant. With the average worker currently spending 3.5 hours a week on admin tasks, ‘AI assistants’ could give workers back 12 working days a year (over two working weeks) by taking on these activities and freeing up time for more business-impactful tasks.

Naeema Pasha, Director of Careers at Henley Business School, says: “Excitingly, careers in the UK are becoming increasingly dynamic and fluid, however this holds as many challenges as it does possibilities. For example, as the introduction of Artificial Intelligence into the workplace gives workers more time away from time-intensive admin tasks, business leaders will need to begin thinking about how their employees can use this ‘extra time’ to carry out more creative tasks and participate in meaningful training schemes to help develop a more fulfilled workforce. Additionally, business leaders need to embrace AI technology in the correct way and begin to implement AI training for their staff for it to be a success for everyone.”

Despite the potential benefits of AI technology to British workers, Henley’s research has identified a major gap in people’s understanding of how AI works and how they can integrate it into their day-to-day working lives. Although the majority of the workforce (63%) aren’t concerned about the security of their job through the introduction of AI, nearly half of them (46%) admitted that they still don’t know what AI can do, with a fifth (23%) of workers calling out for employers to carry out more AI training.

The research also revealed that even in the face of AI’s imminent arrival into the workplace, a shocking three quarters (74%) of business leaders confessed that they are not currently preparing their employees with the skills needed to work alongside AI in the future.

With the integration of AI technology predicted to dramatically change the world of work over the next 10 years, Henley Business School’s leading academics have released tips on how business leaders can upskill their workers to ensure they reap the benefits of AI and prepare their employees for the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ by 2030.

Professor Bernd Vogel, Founding Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership at Henley Business School, offers his advice:

1. Redefine leadership and work principles: Organisations need to embrace the fact that through the introduction of AI in the workplace, one of their future challenges will be leading a ‘hybrid workforce’ i.e. people-machine ecosystems. To stay ahead of the curve, businesses need to prepare managers on how to guide these new hybrid workforces by identifying a set of company-specific leadership and work principles. These principles would help define how humans will work alongside AI ‘colleagues’ and manage the intersect between the two.

2. Prepare: AI is already on our doorstep, so if business leaders haven’t already begun preparing their staff for an AI-integrated office, they should do today. Business leaders need to reach out to employees who feel underprepared and offer either on-the-job or curriculum-based learning to ensure they are ready to work with AI.

3. Define accountability: AI technology allows robots to carry out jobs that require human intelligence, for example decision-making tasks. As businesses continue to employ AI technology to carry out more complex tasks more regularly, businesses leaders will need to define early on who is accountable in people-robot-AI systems where decisions are made by AI – is it the robot or is the human responsible?“

Helen Tupper, Commercial Marketing Director at Microsoft, says: “One of the most important things a company can do is to start to educate their managers with the skills they’ll need to operate successfully in 2030. For example, those in managerial roles will have much more data at their fingertips as they begin to work alongside AI technology, so how they make decisions will be very different. Business leaders need to invest in training that will enable managers to do this efficiently, such as data interpretation, design thinking and accelerated decision-making. These are the skills managers should be developing and working on now.”

Henley’s research found that those working in healthcare were among the most excited to welcome AI (a third), however they were also the most unprepared, with just 5% already working with some form of AI technology and one in five calling for more training to prepare them for the arrival of AI.

Brits working in creative sectors such as arts, media and marketing identified themselves as the most worried about how AI will affect their job (over half of workers). Interestingly, this was the group that claimed to know the most about AI capabilities.

**Henley’s World of Work 2030 research found: **

• The majority of the graduate workforce in the UK will be working with AI on a daily basis by 2030
• Three quarters (74%) of business leaders are not currently preparing their employees with the skills needed to work alongside AI in the future
• Nearly half of the current workforce (46%) admitted that they still don’t know what AI can do
• Those working in healthcare are among the most excited to welcome AI, however they are also the most unprepared
• HR is the industry best preparing for AI after the IT & Telecoms industry
• People working in creative sectors such as arts, media and marketing identified themselves as the most worried about how AI will affect their job (over half of workers)

However, at Henley Business School’s WOW2030 conference, thought leaders from across the world of business shared insights in to why these workers should be embracing AI, rather than fearing it:

Dr Raj Persaud FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist, says: “Although computers can now beat the best human chess player, there is no modern robot that can reliably beat someone at football, or tennis. The implication of which is that humans’ edge over machines could lie in the domain of fine motor skills – leading to a dramatic inversion on job prestige with a return to artisanal, manual skills commanding a premium. Similarly, robots may never be able to demonstrate emotional intelligence, the ability to inspire, empathise and create, as well as humans - meaning that people who use these skills at work may not see an encroachment of AI on their job.”

Mark Tritton, Emerging Technologies Practice Lead at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Pointnext, says: “We’re already using emerging technology such as AI to help businesses automate day-to-day tasks. As this becomes more common, business leaders will be able to empower their workforce to carry out broader and more creative work with time saved through automation.”

How Brits would spend their extra 12 days a year:

• Carry out more creative work (22%)
• Cut down on overtime (19%)
• Spend more time researching their field of work (17%)
• Partake in more relationship building exercises and networking (16%)
• Enrol in more training schemes (14%)
• Explore a side hustle (10%)

At the annual WOW2030 conference, leading Henley academics and business thought leaders also identified the physical improvements the advancements of AI technology will make to the traditional office of the future, from improving mood to monitoring employees’ health.

Henley Careers hosted its World of Work 2030 conference at Henley Business School on September 13th 2018, bringing together like-minded people to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for businesses.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rosie Williams .