Millennials plan to use robots to avoid human interaction at work, as revealed by research commissioned by ABBYY, a global provider of content intelligence solutions and services.
The research, of 1,200 employees in the UK, found that 17% of 18-34 year olds hate speaking to customers, yet only 4% of over 55s felt the same. Whatâs more, 1 in 10 (10%) of 18-34 year olds would delegate speaking to customers to robots, again compared to only 4% of over 55s.
As the younger generation grow alongside technology, they are becoming accustomed to menial tasks being more efficiently conducted through automation. However, the survey highlights that this is allowing them to also hand over some tasks which require their attention, such as human interaction, potentially causing a huge plug in communication.
Millennials were far less interested in speaking with customers for example, with 17% regarding it as one of their most hated tasks, over four times more than those over 55 (with just 4% agreeing).
The study also found the following when it came to communication in the workplace:
- 63% of 35 year olds and over would prioritise speaking to customers, compared to only 47% of 18-34 year olds
- 61% of over 55s prioritise communicating with colleagues and do it straight away, compared to only 34% of 18-34 year olds
- 43% of over 55s prioritise speaking to their boss and do it straight away, compared to only 23% of 18-34 year olds
However, only 5% of those aged 18-34 believe robots would be better at speaking to customers, or communicating with colleagues (2%), demonstrating that millennials are aware of the importance of human involvement within these tasks. The fact there is ambition for these tasks to be handed over to robots could therefore show a lack of confidence from the younger generation in taking on these tasks themselves.
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