| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the topic. Today robotics solutions are spreading in business in order to stay competitive, deal with labor shortages, reduce costs, increase efficiency and provide quality services and products. The International Federation of Robotics forecast that 600 thousand of robots will be installed during 2023 and by 2025 the number will increase to 700 thousand (International Robotic Federation [IRF], 2022). The number of robot installations will grow at an average annual rate of about 6 % (International Robotic Federation [IRF], 2021). There are fears in the labor market about what will happen to the employees, what fate awaits them, how they feel about working in robotic workplaces, because the impact of robotization on the labor market and the wellbeing of employees is unavoidable. Public and academic debates about how robotization will affect the wellbeing of employees are ongoing and are particularly relevant today. The object of the research – Employees’ Wellbeing in Robotized Workplaces. The purpose of the research – to reveal employees’ wellbeing in robotized workplaces. Project tasks: 1. to define the characteristics of robotized workplaces; 2. to describe employees’ wellbeing and its dimensions; 3. to prepare research methodology for investigating the employees’ wellbeing in robotized workplaces; 4. to research the employees’ wellbeing in robotized workplaces and prepare recommendations. Research method. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate wellbeing in robotized workplaces. The data collection method is a semi-structured interview. Were interviewed 16 informants from five companies operating in different counties in Lithuania. Research results and conclusions. As a result of the research in robotized workplaces, all dimensions of employee wellbeing were revealed, which were distinguished in the theoretical model: wellbeing at the workplace, social wellbeing, psychological, financial and mental. Analyzing the results wellbeing was looked at from a positive and negative perspective. The dimension of wellbeing in the workplace became the most prominent and the results of the study confirm that robots are used to perform difficult and harmful jobs and after they were taken over by robots, the health and wellbeing of the study participants improved. The results of the research revealed that employees are not at all afraid of robots and do not feel fear about the safety of their workplace in the future. Fear only appeared at the beginning of the robot’s introduction, as people doubted their ability to learn to control the robots, and at that point emotional support from colleagues is very important. Part of subcategories of mental wellbeing are associated with negative wellbeing perspectives. Some participants mentioned stress due to the speed that appeared during the robot implementation phase, sometimes stress caused by management pushing employees to utilize work with the robot as quickly as possible. In the social wellbeing component weak relations with co-workers were highlighted and from the answers provided by most of the participants were not enough to understand what’s manager's role is in contributing to the development of employee wellbeing. Four informants answered that implementation of robots in the workplace had a positive effect on their financial wellbeing, others felt no change, and some expect changes in the remuneration policy because now they are doing more responsible work. |
