Digitisation sharpens fears about SA jobs
THE fourth industrial revolution brings with it the promise of much prosperity. At events such as the World Economic Forum in Davos it is hailed as the answer to inequality, unemployment and the education crisis.
Accenture’s digital collaboration index forecasts that partnerships between established corporations and start-ups based on innovative technologies could help raise GDP by $12-billion (about R170-billion).
However, in a labour-intensive economy such as South Africa’s, digitisation is bound to have an impact on unemployment.
“Due to globalisation, we have to move into times where companies are modernising and digitising and moving away from the traditional definition of work,” said Mamokgethi Molopyane, an independent labour relations consultant.
For companies such as FNB — which has been at the forefront of digital banking in South Africa — staff cuts are inevitable.
“As new disruptive technologies emerge and more efficient systems are set up, you will have to trim staff numbers,” said FNB CEO Jacques Celliers.
But, he added, FNB found ways to educate and reshuffle staff so that retrenchments were a last resort.
Even so, as banks, manufacturers and retailers modernise to increase efficiencies and cut costs through digitisation and robotics, a large contingent of skilled workers are left out in the cold as they have industry-specific skills, limiting their employability in other sectors.
Ben Venter, deputy general secretary of the South African Society of Bank Officials, said the union was aware of the impact technology would have. “We’re doing a lot of research into technology, trying to pre-empt the effect that it’ll have on our members. We have this uneasy feeling that it’s going to affect the sector in a big way. We are worried . . . in terms of the job numbers.”
Lee Naik, MD of Accenture Digital in South Africa, said employers were starting to consider how they could enhance staff skills.
More banks and IT firms are combining formal education, such as funding university degrees, with less conventional approaches, such as massive open online courses, where, for example, a staff member could learn how to code in a 10-week course.
Molopyane said the problem with South Africa was that there wasn’t a solution to help those who were out of work to be reintroduced to the workplace. She said private sector players needed to assist in this regard. “The private sector is reluctant to significantly upskill its workers. Employees need to be sent on high-level courses that add real value.”
She added that policymakers needed to be more deliberate about implementing their proposed strategies.
Naik expressed the same sentiment, saying the National Development Plan would go a long way in assisting startups with skills and training.
Digitisation isn’t limited to banks and manufacturers. Pick n Pay is testing self-service checkouts at its Observatory store in Cape Town.
The checkouts serve customers with only a few items.
The group said there were no immediate plans to roll out this model across its stores. The checkouts may nonetheless have an impact on the retailer, which has the stated aim of creating 20 jobs a day by 2020.
David North, Pick n Pay’s head of corporate and group strategy, said: “We are always looking at new ways to help our customers by making their shopping trip easier and more convenient.
“We are testing self-service checkouts in one store to see if it can save customers time at the till — particularly those in a hurry and shopping for just a few items.”
The retailer sees this as an additional service. “Staff are required to monitor self-service checkouts and there is no impact on employment,” said North.