Beyond “Upskilling”: Measuring the Climate for Work Automation with the “Work Automation Index”

November 13, 2019


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With all the attention to enhancing the skills of workers to cope with work automation, CEO affiliate Dr. Benjamin Schneider, and Dr. John Boudreau realized that organizations are overlooking pivotal elements to work automation success. Organizations must measure and take action on all of the vital elements for successful work automation:

  • Capability (“Can They Do It?”),
  • Opportunity (“Do they get the Chance to Do it?”),
  • And Motivation (“Do they Have the Desire and Drive to Do It?”).

Yet, today organizations have few resources to measure, track and take action with these important factors, in part because of an over-reliance and fixation only on skills. Tracking skills alone will overlook key factors in successful work automation.

Drawing on decades of research by Dr. Schneider, who previously developed game-changing measures of workplace climate for safety, service and innovation, this project will develop the first Work Automation Index (WAI), to measure and track changes in the work automation climate in organizations and to facilitate effective implementation.

Are you interested in measuring your Work Automation Climate with the new Work Automation Index? Contact Us.