Employers start move to flexible contracts in era of robotics

A new era of greater mechanisation might be ushering in 'the need for workers to embrace change' rather than expecting a high degree of job security, according to the co-head of the Lewis Silkin employment team.

Writing in the first issue of Robotics Law Journal, James Davies says: 'I wonder if we aren’t beginning to see a move from employment contracts as we know them to a system based less on job security and more on a set of basic rights all workers hold which provides a degree of protection but facilitates flexibility and acknowledges the need for workers to embrace change.'

Fear for current jobs

Asked if greater automation will result in the loss of jobs, he says: 'We cannot know what the job market will look like in, say, twenty years. At first glance one fears as current jobs become redundant. However, that has always been the case.'

Robotics

The effect of the growing use of robotics on employment is a main theme of the new title which is launched this week. Further details are available on Robotics Law Journal If you would like free access to a copy of the first issue, please email the editor at: [email protected]