New tech deployment easier in good workplaces

Deploying new technology is easier at workplaces with good working conditions, according to the latest working conditions survey of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK).

The survey result suggested that new technology does not seem to reduce working duties significantly in Finland, said SAK in a press release on Thursday.

A quarter of the members of SAK-affiliated trade unions working in good conditions are happy to see new technology deployed at their workplaces, with only nine per cent of the respondents disapproving such deployment.

This contrasts with a wholly favourable attitude shown by only six per cent of employees with poor or fairly poor working conditions, where 38 per cent are entirely unhappy to see new technology introduced.

SAK Development Unit Director Juha Antila stressed that workplaces hold the key to successful deployment of new technology.

“Improving the quality of working conditions makes employees more receptive to new technology. This finding further establishes the clear causal link between job satisfaction and employee productivity,” said Antila.

Working conditions are more important for accepting new technology than the choice of industry, or the age or sex of the employees affected.

Younger employees of not more than 30 years of age have better experiences of new technology than their older colleagues, with men generally more receptive to it than women, and more successful deployment of new technology occurring in industry than in other economic sectors.

Technological progress is commonplace in sectors organised by SAK-affiliated trade unions.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of all the respondents to the survey reported that new technical facilities had become part of their work in recent years.

Three quarters (74 per cent) of the respondents engaged in work where new technology had been deployed reported that none of their previous duties had been reassigned to machines, automation, robots or other technological facilities. In only four per cent of cases employees’ duties had been significantly reassigned, although some minimal degree of reassignment was reported in 22 per cent cases.

Similar findings were obtained in a survey on workers’ representatives conducted by SAK in March 2018, with 72 per cent of the respondents reporting no impact on employment arising from deployment of new technology.