Will we enjoy work more once routine tasks are automated? Probably not.

Will we enjoy our work more once routine tasks are automated? Not necessarily, suggests an important new study.

The new research suggests that when routine work tasks are being replaced with intelligent technologies, the result may be that employees no longer experience their work as meaningful.

Advances in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and digital applications have recently resurrected discussions and speculations about the future of working life. Researchers predict that new technologies will, in particular affect routine and structured work tasks. Globally, it is anticipated that up to 60 percent of all work tasks will be affected by new technologies over the next 10 years.

The discussion has thus far centered around which skills are required in the future working life, or if work as we know it will vanish altogether.

What the researchers say: “Our values guide many of the selections we make during our lives, including career or occupational choices and the type of competences we value. That’s why it is important to understand how the changes brought to work by novel technologies affect future work and if work will correspond to what we today view as meaningful,” said the lead author.

The study indicates that there is a close association between automatability and values in various occupations. When structured work is being automated and replaced by other tasks—mainly creative, social and non-regular tasks—the contents of the work may not necessarily fit with the values that have been characteristic of people in those occupations. This could result in widespread decreased commitment and job satisfaction—particularly if the changes at work are as comprehensive as the researchers have estimated.

“Up to date, we have mostly talked about how nice it is that routine work is being reduced. But what about those who enjoy such work? This is the first study aimed at understanding the ways our values are linked to the work we are expected to carry out in the future”, said the researchers.

So, what? This study fits in neatly with one I included in a recent TR which showed that one of the main causes of burnout in many professions—especially medicine and law—was the depersonalization of their work.

It’s not just that aspects of the work are taken away, but also the people—the support network—who did the routine work. One of the things that I’m interested in is the whole problem of the future of work. It’s all very well to say that the “routine” jobs will be automated, and that people will be “free” to engage in “more creative” work. But what if you can’t do the more creative or mathematically aligned stuff? What future are you going to offer them?

Also, it’s often the routine aspects of work which reduce our anxiety and stress levels. Being able to accomplish these “easy” routine tasks well can raise our sense of self-esteem and thus give meaning to our work. They can give us the cognitive freedom to be more creative in other aspects of what we do.