Despite attracting a lot of attention in job market coverage, the world is not made up of salary-earning data analysts and software engineers. In fact, 55.6% of all U.S. wage and salary workers were paid at hourly rates in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Industries like health care, hospitality, retail and manufacturing make up this massive cohort, and that doesn’t even include the gig work economy.
In that majority lies a pressing question: How will the introduction of artificial intelligence impact hourly workers?
According to workplace management software company Deputy’s Big Shift Report 2024 on the evolving labor market, 70% of shift workers expressed the belief that AI will bring changes to their jobs.
But AI won’t be the same as past technology-led changes to labor. Previous technology and industrial revolutions have primarily disrupted the blue-collar sector, but according to Silvija Martincevic, CEO of Deputy, since AI is digitizing general intelligence, “we actually think that this is the first time where there will be massive disruption to knowledge workers.“
She foresees resilience to AI disruption in sectors requiring a human touch, like elderly care, hospitality and other services. “All of these industries are staffed by hourly workers,” she said.
Not all experts believe AI and disruption go hand in hand — for any kind of worker. “I don’t really love the disruption connotation,” said Doug Hammond, president of operational talent solutions at staffing and temporary work agency Randstad USA. “I think that word comes with a lot of ‘sky is falling’ kind of baggage.”
Hammond said AI is more about the “rapid evolution of technology that allows step-function increases in productivity.”
‘Deskless workers’ and technology
Regardless of the perspective, hourly workers and the people who manage them are actively seeking technology solutions to help streamline their workflow. In a survey of hourly workers, 22% were interested in using AI in their work and 23% have already experimented with AI tools, according to the latest annual report from instant payment platform Branch.
Martincevic says Deputy’s clients, which include Ace Hardware and Dutch Bros Coffee, have asked for more engagement tools to ensure hourly workers feel connected to the workplace. Often referred to as deskless employees, shift workers haven’t experienced a tangible technological renaissance in the way desk-based workers have via project management tools, video…
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