Oracle and future workplace study: 72% of UAE workers excited to have robot co-workers

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: – Contrary to common fears around how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact jobs; employees, managers and HR leaders in the UAE are welcoming AI in the workplace with love and optimism, according to the second annual AI at Work study conducted by Oracle and Future Workplace, a research firm preparing leaders for disruptions in recruiting, development and employee engagement.

The study of 8,370 employees, managers and HR leaders across 10 countries, including the UAE, found that AI has changed the relationship between people and technology at work and is reshaping the role HR teams and managers need to play in attracting, retaining and developing talent.

UAE Workers Are Excited to Have Robots Take Over Repetitive Tasks

The increasing adoption of AI at work is having a significant impact on the way employees collaborate at the workplace, and they are ready to welcome AI-colleagues with open arms.

• 72 percent of UAE respondents are either excited or optimistic about having robot co-workers.
• Baby Boomers (50 percent) and Millennials (47 percent) expressed more willingness to have robot co-workers as compared to Gen Z digital natives (41 percent).
• UAE workers would like to delegate mundane tasks like creating expense reports, calculating employee benefits, writing pay checks and managing vacation requests to AI-enabled robots.
• 12 percent of UAE respondents would also like AI to deliver career coaching, while 7 percent are comfortable allowing AI to conduct job interviews. 

AI Provides New Opportunities to Upskill and Up-Level

UAE workers are looking at the increasing adoption of AI in the workplace as an opportunity to acquire new skills and deliver more strategic work for their organization.

• When asked what new opportunities they think will be created through using AI, 43 percent of UAE respondents chose learning new skills. Thirty-eight percent followed that up with opportunities to expand their role to be more strategic.
• Having more free time to pursue other interests was chosen by 39 percent of UAE workers.
• 27 percent of respondents also felt that AI can help them drive better organizational change and have a better and healthier work relationship.
• 26 percent of workers believe that AI will help them achieve faster promotions, while 18 percent hoped to secure a higher salary. 

Workers Say AI Improves Professional and Personal Relationships

The impact of AI at work is only just beginning, and workers are looking at the technology to create a positive impact on their professional and personal relationships.

• 52 percent of UAE respondents said that AI has had a positive impact on their relationship with other employees, while 36 percent said engagement with their manager improved due to the introduction of AI at workplace.
• Respondents also said that AI has positively impacted their relationship with their spouse/partner (6 percent) and their children (7 percent).

“The latest advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence are rapidly reaching mainstream, resulting in a massive shift in the way people across the world interact with technology and their teams. As this study shows, the relationship between humans and machines is being redefined at work, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to successfully managing this change. Instead, organizations need to partner with their HR organization to personalize the approach to implementing AI at work in order to meet the changing expectations of their teams around the world,” said Emily He, SVP, Human Capital Management Cloud Business Group, Oracle

"Our 2019 results reveal that forward looking companies are already capitalizing on the power of AI," said Jeanne Meister Founding Partner, Future Workplace. “As workers and managers leverage the power of artificial intelligence in the workplace, they are moving from fear to enthusiasm as they see the possibility of being freed of many of their routine tasks and having more time to solve critical business problems for the enterprise.” 

Initial findings from the survey (previously announced) include:

AI is Changing the Relationship Between People and Technology at Work

• AI is becoming more prominent with 50 percent of workers currently using some form of AI at work compared to only 32 percent last year.
• Workers in the UAE (62 percent), China (77 percent) and India (78 percent) have adopted AI over 2X more than those in France (32 percent) and Japan (29 percent).
• The majority (65 percent) of workers are optimistic, excited and grateful about having robot co-workers and nearly a quarter report having a loving and gratifying relationship with AI at work.

• Workers in India (60 percent) and China (56 percent) are the most excited about AI, followed by the UAE (44 percent), Singapore (41 percent), Brazil (32 percent), Australia/New Zealand (26 percent), Japan (25 percent), U.S. (22 percent), UK (20 percent) and France (8 percent).
• Men have a more positive view of AI at work than women in the UAE with 61 percent of men optimistic vs. 55 percent of women.

Workers Trust Robots More Than Their Managers

The increasing adoption of AI at work is having a significant impact on the way employees interact with their managers. As a result, the traditional role of HR teams and the manager is shifting.

• 64 percent of people would trust a robot more than their manager and half have turned to a robot instead of their manager for advice.
• Workers in India (89 percent) and China (88 percent) are more trusting of robots over their managers, followed by Singapore (83 percent), Brazil (78%), Japan (76 percent), UAE (74 percent), Australia/New Zealand (58 percent), U.S. (57 percent), UK (54 percent) and France (56 percent).
• In the UAE, more men (76 percent) than women (64 percent) have turned to AI over their managers.
• 82 percent of people think robots can do things better than their managers.
• When asked what robots can do better than their managers, UAE survey respondents said robots are better at maintaining work schedules (42 percent), problem solving (34 percent) and providing unbiased information (32 percent)
• When asked what managers can do better than robots, UAE workers said the top three tasks were understanding their feelings (46 percent), coaching them (32 percent) and evaluate team performance (25 percent).

AI is Here to Stay: Organizations Need to Simplify and Secure AI to Stay Competitive

The impact of AI at work is only just beginning and in order to take advantage of the latest advancements in AI, organizations need to focus on simplifying and securing AI at work or risk being left behind.

• 88 percent of UAE workers surveyed (and 84 percent of HR leaders) find it challenging to keep up with the pace of technological changes in the workplace.
• UAE workers want a simplified experience with AI at work, asking for a better user interface (43 percent), best practice training (41 percent) and an experience that is personalized to their behavior (35 percent).
• Privacy (41 percent) and security (40 percent) are the main concerns preventing UAE workers from using AI at work.
• Digital natives Gen Z (41 percent) and Millennials (45 percent) are more concerned about privacy and security at work than Gen X (33 percent). 

Methodology

Research findings are based on a global survey conducted by Savanta between July 2 to August 9, 2019. In total, 8,370 completed the survey. The study was administered online and fielded in 10 different countries (and in six languages). Permanent full-time employees between the ages 18 – 74 years old were eligible to participate. The survey targeted HR Leaders, Managers and Employees. Respondents are recruited through a number of different mechanisms, via different sources to join the panels and participate in market research surveys. All panelists have passed a double opt-in process and complete on average 300 profiling data points prior to taking part in surveys. Respondents are invited to take part via email and are provided with a small monetary incentive for doing so.

-Ends- 

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com. 

About Future Workplace

Future Workplace is an executive development firm dedicated to rethinking and re-imagining the workplace. Future Workplace works with heads of talent management, human resources, corporate learning, and diversity to prepare for the changes impacting recruitment, employee development, and engagement. Future Workplace is host to the 2020 Workplace Network, an Executive Council that includes 50 plus heads of Corporate Learning, Talent, and Human Resources who come together to discuss debate and share “next” practices impacting the workplace and workforce of the future. For more information, please visit: http://www.futureworkplace.com.  

For more information please contact:
Gaurav Bhatnagar
Director, Corporate Communications – Middle East & Africa
Oracle
+971 55 100 1407
gaurav.b.bhatnagar@oracle.com 

© Press Release 2020