Automation to increase IT headcounts

Far from the nightmare scenario of widespread job losses, automation is instead creating jobs for Australian IT professionals, according to research commissioned by recruitment company Robert Half.

The research found that 24% of Australian CIOs are planning to hire additional permanent IT staff to support the automation of departmental processes.

A similar proportion (27%) are planning to hire additional temporary or contracting staff for this purpose, with just 4% and 8% expecting to reduce permanent and temporary headcount respectively.

The research found that the top departments CIOs plan to automate in future include IT itself (44%), human resources (31%), operations (29%), accounting and finance (28%), marketing (24%) and sales (20%).

“Australian companies are operating in a competitive environment where business success rests on their ability to navigate the disruptive effects of technology and digitisation. While automation may negatively impact some manual roles, businesses can’t overlook the positive impacts of automation on the workplace — especially on IT,”  said Robert Half Australia Director Andrew Morris.

“Many companies will be looking for the right IT talent to manage automated processes, which will increase demand for specialised skills — such as algorithm coding, open source code and software development.”

These findings align with recent research from Deloitte predicting that the number of dedicated IT workers in Australia will increase from 663,100 in 2017 to 722,000 in 2020, and 758,700 by 2023.

Robert Half noted that the co-founder and co-CEO of Australia’s largest technology company Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, has also previously expressed confidence that automation will, like every previous wave of technology, create more jobs than it destroys.

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