The Impact of Technology in the Workplace Essay

Today's workplace benefits immensely from technology. Every business, big or small with any number of employees can benefit from technology by using a software program to track its clients and document all its aspects of work. Technology has had an immense impact on the manner in which people work, how long they work, and from where they work including the efficiency of the work.

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Technology has completely changed the workplace ranging from the kind of jobs that have to be done to the skills necessary to do them. The speed and efficiency of the way people work have significantly increased because of the advances in technology (Carpenter 2013, p.128). Even the most basic tasks such as note-taking and the writing of minutes in a meeting have become innovative with technological advancements. Workers in factories as well should be able to handle the complicated machines used in production. However, automation is affecting employees as it increases the rate of unemployment since most organizations introduce automatic equipment that does the work people used to do (Everly 2017). Technology has made it necessary for today's workforce to be computer literate as well as flexible and with the ability to study new systems as technology evolves.

The interaction between the business and its employees has also changed over the years because of technology. Innovations in technology have changed the way people do business as it has enabled individuals to be anywhere they wish to be and have face-to-face meetings using innovations such as video conferencing with other platforms like Google chat, Go-To-Meeting, and Skype. Such technological innovations facilitate face to face interactions with business partners, team members, and even job seekers (Joyce et al. 2018). They speed up business processes and improve productivity. Technology has allowed people to be in more than one place at once significantly increasing the ability to interact and network with more individuals around the world.

The hiring process has also been drastically affected by technology. Many organizations nowadays use online interviews for recruitment before setting up the face to face interviews making technology significant in employee recruitment (Grindrod 2016, p. 41). Additionally, workplace security has improved due to technological innovations such as fingerprints and eye scans which enhance the business as well as employee safety. Technology via the heightened security systems, security enhancements, and better firewalls, continues to shape workplace safety.

Technology, on the other hand, affects employees especially since automation is slowly filling up the spaces initially meant for the workforce. Technology advancements are a threat to job security especially production jobs in factories which can be easily handled by machines (Smith & Tischler 2015, p. 72). The applications of technology also have impacts on social factors as technology-facilitated communication can result in the isolation of workers due to lack of face to face interactions (Smith & Tischler 2015, p. 74). According to Celestand (2018), it is vital for co-workers to spend as much time together as possible for teamwork and interpersonal skills to develop. Technology can in future bring about resource-efficient sustainable production through the use of robotics to factor into the way people currently make products and manage the delivery of services. Therefore, though it has a few disadvantages associated with it, is still beneficial to companies offering them leverage over their competitors. Hence, it is vital to stay updated with the advances in technology.

References

Carpenter, C. 2013, 'Advancements in Completion Technology Increase Production in the Williston Basin,' Journal of Petroleum Technology, vol. 65 no. 09, pp.127-129.

Celestand, J. 2018, 'The Impact of Technology in the Workplace,' Goodwill Industries International Inc.

Everly, R. 2017, 'How Technology and Digital Transformation Impacts Today's Workplace,' Talent Culture.

Grindrod, S. 2016, 'Mentoring Is Now Changing the Workplace through Technology,' Employment Relations Today, vol. 43 no. 3, pp.39-44.

Joyce, C. Fisher, J. Guszcza, J. & Hogan, S. 2018, 'Positive technology: Designing work environments for digital well-being', Deloitte Insights.

Smith, K. and Tischler, R. 2015, 'Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace', Employment Relations Today, vol. 42 no. 1, pp.73-79.-