Rather than feeling threatened by the automation trend, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of HR leaders see artificial intelligence and robotics as having a positive impact on their businesses over the next three to five years. Across all the industry sectors we surveyed, businesses were optimistic about technology’s ability to reduce costs, improve quality and increase output.

Many assume these productivity gains must come at the expense of American jobs. In reality, automation has increased demand for flexible, mobile workers with skills and agility that no robot can come close to matching. While 26 percent of the HR professionals we surveyed said their businesses increased their use of robots in 2016, more than 34 percent said they hired extensively over the same period just to keep up with growth.

In fact, survey results found that a scarcity of skilled workers was driving employment demands in certain areas, such as marketing, sales and IT/technical, where automation is a long way from displacing human employees. Well more than one-third of respondents anticipate hiring more workers in these areas over the next year.

But employers are finding that workers with the right combination of skills and experience are harder to come by, especially with the rise of the gig economy. Many workers are structuring their work hours in ways that allow them to work many different jobs, across several geographical locations. To attract these employees, companies are rethinking their talent management to better integrate short-term and offsite workers.

Of the HR leaders we surveyed, more than two-thirds (66 percent) are considering a hiring strategy that would more easily integrate contingent workers. They see the shift toward flexible talent as a sound strategy that can help access a larger pool of talent, such as retirees and parents with young children who may not want to be locked into a 9-to-5 work schedule.

For many Americans, business investment in automation and contingent employees signals long-term job losses. But that perspective may be shortsighted. In fact, automation and robotics can make U.S. manufacturing more cost-competitive, while increasing the number of high-paying, skilled jobs available for humans.

Instead of 50 foreign workers completing a job by hand for rock bottom wages, automation will allow the same job to be completed by a skilled U.S. worker running a robot and earning a middle-class salary. The combination of automation and a more mobile, freelance workforce has the potential to reduce the cost of manufacturing and make it easier for companies to return factories to the U.S. The end result is a better-educated, higher-paid American workforce.

Change is often viewed with unease. Americans are witnessing a major shift in the way the country does business. But most HR leaders believe technology will provide new opportunities for American workers. Recent changes in workforce management do not portend employment catastrophe. If Randstad Sourceright’s 2017 Talent Trends Report is any indication, automation could save the American workforce, not sink it.

Rebecca Henderson is the CEO of Randstad Sourceright, one of the world’s leading human resources providers.

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