Companies spanning multiple industries are ramping up their use of robots, chatbots, and autonomous vehicles to provide contactless care to patients, monitor grocery store stocks, and connect the elderly to their loved ones.
Early data suggests that a COVID-19-induced surge in automation may outlast the virus, in line with the outcome during and beyond past economic downturns, including the Great Recession.
As the surge in automation continues in the longer term, businesses should seek to strike a balance between optimizing technology-driven cost saving and reskilling employees to work with and alongside machines.

From sending employees home in droves to limiting in-person professional interactions, COVID-19 is fundamentally changing the way we work. Workforce automation, which has been ramping up in recent years, appears poised to accelerate as a result. As discussed at the GBPC’s 2019 CEO Retreat in Mallorca, the impact of automation on the global workforce continues to grow in a variety of dimensions, including the number of jobs at high risk (see figure 1). Just as robots are now displacing blue-collar workers, advances in artificial intelligence are beginning to displace accountants, lawyers, and other service-based professions. China has led the world in industrial robot density over the past few years, having installed 154,000 robots in 2018. Japan, the United States, and South Korea are far behind with only 55,200, 40,400, and 37,800 installations respectively. Yet installation of industrial robots continues to rise globally (see figure 2). As COVID-19 is rapidly impacting the way we live, work, and advocate for our health, robots are stepping in at scale—not only to clean and sanitize surfaces, but also to scan for fevers and enforce wearing of masks, conduct grocery store stock analysis, and deliver food and medical supplies, among a range of other functions.