A Busy Work Buster: Now That We Can, Should We?

by Sara McDonnel
DFW IT Department

The dreaded 'busy work'. Every office has it. That work that NO ONE wants to do, but it's part of the reason you have a job at the place. With advancements in technology, we're reaching the point where any task that doesn't require human input can be automated. So the question is, If you can replace a worker with an artificial intelligence, should you?

I can't help but remember one of my first jobs. It was a temp to hire deal. Though I didn't complain to my bosses or peers, I do recall thinking to myself,

'OMG! This tedious job again?? It requires no thought! In fact, the sleepier my brain is, the less painful the task. Why me? Oh, right, I'm the new girl I get stuck with the 'busy' work.'

I finished up my contractual obligation and left, vowing never to return to that type of work.

Companies can have programs written that eliminate busy work. What does this mean for workers? If the company has one of these artificial workers created, and it completely eliminates the workload of several workers, they are out of the job, right? That's a possibility. It also could be used as an opportunity to expand the company's capabilities.

Well run businesses are always maximizing their employees efficiency and utilizing their hours worked. Depending on the health of the company, an automated worker can help it grow, or prevent it from going under. If it's in an effort to prevent a company from going out of business, they were facing larger layoffs in the long run.

I spoke with an IT company in Arlington, TX, that generates this type of automated worker. They said,"This scripting can't do everything a person does, but anyone who can be completely replaced by a program should be." I was surprised by this, since it would be taking away jobs. He explained further,"... we work with smaller businesses here in the DFW metroplex. They are competing with big businesses, and cannot afford to waste a penny on anything that isn't vital to their success. More often than not, these automated workers replace only a portion of a worker's job, and eliminating that portion allows the workers to be more successful at the rest of their job." After hearing this I flashed back to my first job again, and chills went down my spine. Why didn't they have this automation back then?

I see this as another piece of the puzzle of our future. People will become better at what people do, and computers will become better at what computers do. Automated workers simply recover their portion of the work that humans were painfully forced to do.

sources:

DFW IT Department (small business IT department for companies that can't afford a full time it department)

Google wiki

Article submitted Friday, May 13, 2011 & read 4968 times.

Leave your comments through Ice Pop:

No comments yet.
We appreciate your comments!

8-0-0-0-505-ADSO

Most Recent