New technology and people: changing job roles

When cash machines spread across the United States, what happened to the number of bank tellers? It sounds like the end of the teller. In fact teller numbers held steady, and even rose a little. Each branch needed fewer tellers, so banks opened more branches, and the teller's day moved from counting cash to sorting out customers' money problems. Same title. Same job? The tellers come back once job role has a plain meaning.

A job role is the set of tasks a person does at work. New technology changes a job role when it changes those tasks. This video is about the people who make things and serve customers, not the people who buy. A role can change in three ways. The tasks inside it change, while the title stays. A new role appears that did not exist before. Or an old role shrinks, and sometimes disappears. A changed role is not a lost job: the same person keeps working, on different tasks. Take a car mechanic. Thirty years ago, the first move on a faulty car was to listen to the engine and reach for a spanner. Today, the first thing a mechanic often picks up is a laptop, plugged into the car. What new task does the laptop give the mechanic before the spanner comes out? Reading the fault codes, the record the car's computer keeps of what has gone wrong. The diagnosis comes from data, then the repair by hand. The title is still mechanic, but the tasks inside it changed, and the new skill is using diagnostic software. That is the first of the three ways.

Every case from here names three things: the job, the technology, and the task before and after. A crisp factory fits a camera inspection system to its packing line, along with an automatic checkweigher, a scale that weighs every bag as it passes. Before, the quality inspector took bags off the line by hand, weighed them, and checked the seals by eye. How does the job of the inspector change once the camera and checkweigher arrive? The machines now test every bag and push out faulty ones automatically. So the inspector watches the data, works out why packets are being rejected, and adjusts the machines. The role moves from doing the checks to supervising the machines that do them. That asks for new skills: reading data and setting up equipment. Three more workers. A picker for online orders, in a warehouse built for internet shopping. A draughtsperson who draws plans by hand on a drawing board. And a factory packer who now supervises a packing robot. Each one fits one of the three ways a role can change. Which of the three ways fits each worker? The picker is a new role that appeared. Drawing by hand on a board is a role that has shrunk. And the packer kept a job, but the tasks inside it changed.

Sam drew kitchen-unit plans by hand on a drawing board for twenty years. Now the company designs everything in CAD, which means computer-aided design. It sends the files straight to its CNC panel saw, a computer-controlled saw that cuts the boards. What are two ways Sam's job role has changed, and one new skill Sam needs? Sam now builds each kitchen as a 3D model instead of drawing views by hand, so a change a customer asks for takes minutes, not a redraw. And Sam's file goes straight to the saw, so Sam now checks it before it is sent. A mistake in the file becomes a mistake in the board. Before, a machinist read Sam's paper drawing. The new skill is using the CAD software and preparing files for the machine, which Sam must be trained in. And Sam still works there, doing a different job. Two answers about a shop's stock-taker. One says: it is quicker because it uses computers. The other says: the stock-taker used to count shelves with a clipboard. Now a handheld scanner reads the barcodes, so the job is chasing errors in the stock system. That means learning the scanner and its software. Which answer describes the changing job role, and what is the other one missing? The second. It names the job, the technology, and the task before and after. The first names no job, no technology and no task, so it could be about anything.

Over to you for four questions, with the last one at the bank counter.

A sign writer who painted by hand now designs on a computer. Which way did the role change? The tasks inside the role changed. Same title, new work, and a new skill in design software. Now this: drones survey roofs, and someone must fly them. Which way is that? A new role appears: a drone pilot, with a skill nobody needed before. Try a reason: why is a changed role not the same as a lost job? Because the same person keeps working, and only the tasks change. A lost job means the person is not needed at all. Here's the bank to finish: with cash machines everywhere, was the teller's job the same job? Same title, different job. Counting cash shrank, and helping customers with money problems grew. The role changed, and the job did not disappear.

Name a job, the technology, and what changed, and this one's yours: one tap of the thumb marks it. If you're unsure, keep it for later, because nobody sorts all three ways perfectly first time.

Next in the chapter: New ways of working: remote working, video meetings and shifts. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly D T oh five, oh five.

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