EMPLOYEES’ CHALLENGES AND NEEDS FOR RESKILLING WHEN WORKING WITH SOFTWARE ROBOTS

Software robots are becoming increasingly adopted in different industries. The growing rate of automatization will affect more and more people and will result in changes in businesses of all sizes. Impacts can be observed at both the organizational and individual employee levels. A growing number of studies of software robots’ advantages and disadvantages on an organizational or industry-specific level have been carried out. However, there is limited knowledge about the employees’ perceptions of challenges and new skills needed when working with software robots. This study addresses this gap by using open-ended questionnaire responses from employees who have worked with software robots. This study aims to contribute to prior knowledge by identifying comprehensive sets of subcategories for employees’ perceptions of (1) the challenges as well as (2) the new skills needed when working with software robots. As practical implications, our findings can help organizations and individual workers prepare for the implementation and use of software robots by identifying potential challenges, planning for overcoming such challenges via suitable skills, and providing training for employees. According to our findings, many respondents mentioned learning new technical skills as a challenge, and because they have had to work with software robots, they have acquired additional knowledge, such as basic programming skills. Challenges related to reskilling constitute an interesting topic for further research