Four success factors for workforce automation

The fear of the future can be a powerful deterrent to change, as shown by a recent McKinsey Global Survey about the spread of automation in the workplace. Almost half of the respondent executives who rated their current automation programs a success nevertheless identified two factors--managing employee resistance to change and attracting talent--as their biggest challenges to adopting automation over the next three years (Exhibit 1). It's a truism that change brings challenges. But it's equally true that change brings opportunities. Automation has huge potential to change the nature of work, most obviously by freeing up workers from repetitive and tedious tasks.