Quite a large number of British workers reckon a robot could make better business decisions than their own flesh-and-blood boss.

That’s according to a new report that found one in three (34%) of employees believe a robot would be better if it had access to the right business intelligence.

The annual survey, called the Advanced Trends Report, is the third commissioned by British software and services company Advanced. The company asked over 1,000 professionals in UK organisations and found that only 35% of managing directors are said to be driving technology change.

Alexa? Is that you? (Image: Getty)

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents said they would be happy to work alongside robotic technology if it meant less manual processes.




In fact, the report said that 72% of these professionals have already adopted technology to automate tasks and processes, albeit many of these are likely using simple commands to handle defined actions.

‘Disruptive technology is encouraging us to look afresh at all aspects of business,’ says Gordon Wilson, CEO at Advanced.

Imagine asking this one to grant your holiday leave request (Image: Getty)

‘While robots are unlikely to take on the job of decision maker – the reality is that they are simply not yet suited to such complex tasks and will instead work side-by-side with humans – our findings suggest that employees are dissatisfied with their current leadership, want to get rid of arbitrary decision making and are starting to challenge the norms.’

‘Leaders need to step up, to provide the clear direction that people need and take charge of the intense technology change happening as a result of the digital era.’

The outlook of this report seems to be much more positive than one conducted a few months back.

That one, carried out by YouGov and also surveying 1,000 Brits, suggested that a quarter of us are worried a ‘droid will nick our jobs outright.

An employee of Festo works with a pneumatic light-weight robot ‘Bionic Cobot’ at the Hanover Fair in Germany (Image: DPA)

That research was timed to coincide with a new two-year commission on workers’ technology that will both address the change and help workers re-skill if necessary.

‘The digital revolution means technology and jobs are changing faster than ever,’ said Yvette Cooper MP, chair of the home affairs select committee, who backed the program.

‘This survey of workers found that almost a quarter of workers are worried that their job will no longer be needed. And whilst it found that most people are optimistic that they will be able to change and update their skills, they also say they are not getting any help or support to train or adapt from the government, their employer or a trade union.’

What’s the answer? We’re not entirely sure. But we’re not going to stop sucking up to our human boss just yet…