From smart cars to robotic surgeons, automation is the blessing and the curse that promises to rid the world of mundaneness while also eliminating nearly every job currently tasked to humans. Yet such norm-shifting promises generate much hype, bringing attention to an inevitable gap between reality and expectations. The Big Data hype cycle is a recent example of technology’s adoption rate being slower than expected, as many iterations of advanced analytics ultimately became obstacles to the productivity promised.

As businesses look to technology for cost savings and profit preservation, automation has moved far beyond production lines in manufacturing plants. Wage workers earning less than $20 an hour are particularly threatened by the trend towards automation according to White House economists, but should they be? While automation is displacing much of human labor (including brain powered-white collar jobs), robots and supercomputers are not capable of full takeovers just yet. Those jobs requiring the human touch are still very much in demand – artificial intelligence hasn’t evolved concepts like empathy, reserving jobs like hospitality and customer service for mankind, reads one report from Oxford University.

Man, machine, moil

More realistically, the near future will combine man and machine for optimized business operations, particularly for wage workers. Discussing what automation means for these most threatened employees is Joshua Ostrega, Chief Operating Officer and Founder of WorkJam. His company keeps hourly workers in sync via web and mobile apps, providing a communication platform between employees and management. Able to integrate with existing workforce management systems and accessible on the smartphones already owned by employees, WorkJam automates targeted components of daily work life, motivates through gamification and reduces labor costs with its self-service tools.

“We see there’s a certain crisis in labor, from employees and employers, with different policy changes towards improving worker rights and overall margin pressures. Things are changing quickly, driving automation,” Ostrega explained in a recent interview with SiliconANGLE. He sees “tremendous opportunity” in extending existing systems workers already use to offer “flexibility, better communication, faster training, rewards and recognition.”

Specifically, WorkJam saves managers time and employees frustration by simplifying the scheduling process. More often than not, workers are discouraged from changing their schedules because it creates more work for managers. So how can companies move towards automated processes without hurting productivity?

“When some tech is in its infancy, you can get that. The concept is good but interface doesn’t work well, and you suddenly have more work because you’re tied in more to your laptops,” Ostrega explained. “What we’re trying to do from the labor standpoint is to find the solution and have something that benefits the employer and employee and improves the lives of the individual.”

The challenge in automation is also remembering the human component, avoiding problems like the highly publicized Starbucks debacle where computers were scheduling back-to-back shifts for workers closing one evening and requiring them to return early the next morning.

This, Ostrega explained, can cause employees to “feel their work doesn’t care about them, and they develop negative sentiment about that company. Imagine this as a round two of creating flexibility where, all of the sudden individuals can start shifting schedules amongst themselves.”

Software enabling human empathy

Now we have a case where software enables human empathy, with WorkJam opening a path for communication and collecting data all the while. Workers can provide feedback on shifts, managers and their companies anonymously, while managers can hand out accolades to employees for jobs well done.

“People feel good about receiving things and being recognized, even if it’s virtual,” Ostrega said. “From a reporting and head office standpoint, you can see where employees stand, why one store has better customer service levels. It’s better for employees because it helps with advancement.

“At the same time, there’s capabilities for employees to rate their shifts, a two-step touch process. When finished with a shift, they can say how they felt, if the shift was busy, and even throw in a few comments. It sounds basic, but if you have employees doing that daily, over a year you have data,” Ostrega furthered.

In this way, the interface between automated software and end user is more important the the automation technology itself.

“In the service industry there’s a tremendous focus on customer service and the customer experience, such a need for consumers that have extremely high expectations. Hopefully automation will make that job better, but I don’t see the need for service labor going down,” said Ostrega. “The human touch we see as something that’s going to become more and more important.”

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