Retraining current employees for new positions within the company will also greatly reduce their fear of being laid off.
Introduction of robots into factories, while employment of human workers is being reduced, creates worry and fear. ( ① ) It is the responsibility of management to prevent or, at least, to ease these fears. ( ② ) For example, robots could be introduced only in new plants rather than replacing humans in existing assembly lines. ( ③ ) Workers should be included in the planning for new factories or the introduction of robots into existing plants, so they can participate in the process. ( ④ ) It may be that robots are needed to reduce manufacturing costs so that the company remains competitive, but planning for such cost reductions should be done jointly by labor and management. ( ⑤ ) Since robots are particularly good at highly repetitive simple motions, the replaced human workers should be moved to positions where judgment and decisions beyond the abilities of robots are required.