Ricoh and Canon are the latest OEMs who are looking to shed jobs due to the impact of the pandemic.
Nikkei Asian Review reported that between January and September 2020 the big Japanese companies, including Ricoh and Canon, have shed about 16,000 jobs of their payroll. According to Nikkei Asian Review, 6,400 jobs were cut at Ricoh in the period and about 4,100 at Canon.
At Ricoh, the workforce was reduced by “voluntary retirements of sales and maintenance personnel out of the country, and by consolidating manufacturing after it opened an original manufacturing facility in China in July”, according to jp.bankloankorea.com.
The Future of Jobs 2020 report has found that COVID-19 has caused the labour market to change faster than expected. The research released today by the World Economic Forum indicates that what used to be considered the “future of work” has already arrived.
By 2025, automation and a new division of labour between humans and machines will disrupt 85 million jobs globally in medium and large businesses across 15 industries and 26 economies. Roles in areas such as data entry, accounting and administrative support are decreasing in demand as automation and digitisation in the workplace increases.
More than 80% of business executives are accelerating plans to digitise work processes and deploy new technologies; and 50% of employers are expecting to accelerate the automation of some roles in their companies. In contrast to previous years, job creation is now slowing while job destruction is accelerating.
