Employees don’t show up for work – employers replace them with robots

It’s the “Great Resignation,” and many workers seem to prefer not to come to work. Employers are forcing them more and more. How? ‘Or’ What? By completely cutting their jobs.

A recent poll Verizon’s survey of more than 600 U.S. small businesses found that 30% have already adopted digital tools to help offset a shortage of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Do you think it’s short term? It’s not. As the cost of these technologies decreases rapidly, businesses large and small are investing heavily in software and hardware, helping to eliminate what is for many their biggest headache – people. For obvious reasons, companies don’t like to talk about how they are eliminating employees through automation. But it’s happening. Yes it is.

In detail, for example, supermarket chain Hy-Vee has announced it is testing shelf-scanning inventory management robots in its stores, while ShopRite is piloting robotic delivery. Amazon Quietly deploys thousands of self-service grocery stores run by a small team of workers to restock shelves – until they are finally replaced by robots. Airport retailer Hudson uses technology from Amazon automate its locations.

In the UK, supermarket giant Tesco came with his own “The walkout store” to compete with Amazon. Convenience store chain in Wawa Pennsylvania added automatic checkouts in dozens of its stores with plans to make this permanent in all locations.

Make no mistake: these self-service technologies eliminate workers. This is why retailers are jumping on this trend. The same goes for the restaurant industry. The owners there meet at the zero point of the Great Resignation. So they are also doing their part to help their employees find jobs elsewhere.

According to a recent New York Times report, many turn to robots to “make fries, mixed drinks, and even clean toilets, and they never ask for a raise” (or Dave Chappelle complains). Connecticut seafood chain says it will soon to have up to five robotic “waiters” programmed to “bring food to tables and dirty dishes to the dishwasher station”. A Californian restaurant now offers Japanese food served by robot. A robot that makes pizzas replace workers while another business thrives by selling robotic arms that do everything from burgers to salads to sushi. These companies are sure of one thing: servers and robotic arms show up for work every day.

Dave & Buster’s recently announced that its sites use contactless control, a move that has allowed them to “expand the size of server sections and downsize to be more efficient” (translation: fewer workers). Mcdonalds test a voice recognition-based automated steering wheel control system at 10 of its Chicago sites that will reduce the number of orders workers need to fill to one in five.

And reduce the number of people taking orders too, of course. (Shhh.)

In the factory, the robots are all the work at Nissan’s’ smart factory ‘, with a company executive explaining how’ until now people had to make production adjustments through experience, but now robots with artificial intelligence, analyzing the data collected, are able to do so ”.

Boston Dynamics technology company has developed “PlaceWhich has been used to perform “inspections on construction sites, oil rigs, nuclear power plants, check vital signs of Covid-19 patients in hospitals and even remind people to maintain social distancing in the midst of the pandemic ”. Spot has a new brother called “Stretch, “which can handle a” wide variety of shrink-wrapped boxes and cases “and has special technology that can recognize different types of packages and move up to 800 cases per hour, which is” the equivalent of ‘a human employee. “Goodbye, OSHA. See you later, unions.

Transportation and warehouse workers as well as truck drivers had better check their savings as well. This is because Ford, Argo and Walmart are bringing robotic delivery in Miami, Austin and Washington, DC, and Walgreens and Google are teaming up to offer drone deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Grubhub delivery service is deployment Robots to deliver pizzas to 250 colleges in the United States

The Wall Street Journal reports that Kenco Logistics Services, a logistics provider based in Tennessee, “deploys a fleet” of autonomous vehicles such as autonomous tractors that pull carts loaded with pallets to “fill a labor shortage by helping workers fill in online orders “. Companies such as Inceptio and Maven work on self-contained, self-contained trucks that don’t require downtime, don’t drink beer, are safer, and save energy.

In financial services, companies like Clearco are part of a growing industry which offers small business loans with virtually no human intervention, relying “entirely on algorithms to decide which companies to give money to, how much to offer and what the terms of the deal should be.” Meanwhile, TD Bank recently joined the crowd robo-financial-adviser space with a new offer “that only requires $ 5,000 in assets to open an account and fees as low as 0.3%”.

For companies that still employ staff, many do so using artificial intelligence-based virtual recruitment tools and delivering mental health benefits fueled by chatbots. According to a recent report, 75 percent of U.S. employers (up to 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies) are using interviewing and other recruiting technology “in response to an increase in digital applications from the 90s. Technology has made more easier for people to apply for jobs, but also easier for companies to reject them. “

By the way, do you remember those governments trying to help the working class? Maybe not so much. Singapore has deployed robots to patrol public places to “keep an eye out for rule breakers, including those who flout their COVID-19 safety measures.” Unmanned vessels map the ocean thanks to an Irish startup. The Pennsylvania Turnpike eliminates hundreds of jobs with its new automated toll technologies.

Never heard of the Automation of robotic processes (RPA)? This is a US government service that helps government agencies “overcome the technical, managerial, and operational challenges that arise in designing and deploying an effective RPA program” so that people can be eliminated. . Even civil servants are no longer immune to being replaced.

Do you understand, people? Your “ghost”, resigning and unreliable behavior is now paying off. Your demands for higher pay, more time off, increased benefits, and more influence over how your employers do business are being answered. Your complaints, denunciations and public shame of your employer (merits or not) now take effect.

How? ‘Or’ What? You are replaced by machines. So congratulations: soon you will be able to work from home for as long as you want.

Gene Marks is the founder of The Marks Group, a small business consulting firm. He appears frequently on CNBC, Fox Business, and MSNBC.