This shows which HR positions are most likely to be replaced by a computer

Here's a hint: compensation and benefits people had better specialize elsewhere if they want to stay in HR

Artificial intelligence may sound like a thing of the far future, but now is the time to start preparing if you want to keep your job. A study from the University of Oxford estimates about 47% of US employment is at risk of being made redundant by technological innovation.

However, for HR professionals, some of us are more vulnerable than others. The paper explains it this way: “as technology races ahead, low-skilled workers will move to tasks that are not susceptible to computerisation — i.e., tasks that required creative and social intelligence.” That means HR positions that are intensive on creativity and social intelligence are more likely to have longevity. Here’s the list, in reverse order of their likelihood of being computerized in coming decades:
  • 0.55% HR managers
  • 1.2% Industrial-organizational psychologists
  • 1.4% Training and development specialists
  • 1.5% Chief executives
  • 17% Occupational health and safety specialists
  • 25% Occupational health and safety technicians
  • 31% HR, training and labor relations specialists, all other
  • 47% Compensation, benefits and job analysis specialists
  • 90% HR assistants, except payroll and timekeeping
  • 96% Compensation and benefits managers
  • 97% Payroll and timekeeping clerks
The paper goes on to list 700 other occupations and their likelihood of being computerized. The most likely professionals to lose their jobs to robots? Telemarketers.
 

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