Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • Topics
News
Sections
Workplace services
Information Management
Agile Working

UK should accelerate automation to 'reap productivity benefits'

Open-access content Monday 8th January 2018 — updated 7.14pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
Web_RobotsOffice_iStock-830501818

8 January 2018 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal


Automation will produce significant productivity gains that will reshape specific sectors and occupations, says a report by the Institute of Public Policy Research's Commission on Economic Justice.

 

However, the report states that in aggregate these gains are likely to be recirculated, with jobs reallocated rather than eliminated, economic output increased, and new sources of wealth created.

 

The critical challenge of automation is likely to be in distribution rather than production, suggests the report, and if the benefits are fairly shared, automation could help "build an economy where prosperity is underpinned by justice, with a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and working time".

 

But, it points out, "there is no guarantee that this will occur".

 

It states that if managed poorly, automation could create a 'paradox of plenty': society would be far richer in aggregate, but, for many individuals and communities, technological change could reinforce inequalities of power and reward.

 

This discussion paper argues that public policy should seek to accelerate automation to reap the productivity benefits. It also says the government needs to provide greater support for firms in all sectors and parts of the country to integrate new technologies, improve management, achieve higher rates of investment, and enable a stronger voice for employees in shaping the use of technology at work. The skills system also needs to be reformed to ensure that people can thrive in an era of greater human-machine collaboration.

 

It adds that new models of collective ownership are required to ensure that everyone has a claim on the dividends of technological change, to enable automation "to work for the common good".

 

You can read Managing Automation Employment, Inequality and Ethics in the Digital Age here.

Also filed in
Topics
News
Content
Workplace services
Information Management
Agile Working

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Head of Facilities

Norwich
Market competitive salary with excellent benefits package
Reference
59397

Deputy Director of Estate Services

Newcastle-under-Lyme
£75,000 per annum
Reference
59396

Health and Safety Manager

London (Central)
£50,000
Reference
59394
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ