Sudbury employment agency hosting workshop on job automation

The Sudbury YMCA Employment Services is taking part in some key research about workplace automation.

The agency is hosting one of six public workshops taking place across the province.

The workshops are being run by the Brookfield Institute, an economic think tank looking at advancing technology in the workplace.

It wants to find out what workers and communities need to help adapt to workplace automation.

Sarah Doyle is research director with the institute.

"I think that's really the motivation to participate in the workshops, to have a direct line into the Ontario government, as they think about changes to some of their big training programs, like Second Career," she said.

"We hope to get our report into the hands of employers and colleges and others who also have a stake in the game."

Sudbury YMCA Employment Services manager Karen Makela says automation has the potential to help companies stay competitive.

"Sudbury is actually quite ahead of the curve already in a lot of jobs going to automation, especially in mining," she said.

"We're poised to be able to take some knowledge and some learnings from what's happened there and be able to translate those into future 'what do we need.'"

The workshop takes place on Jan. 25 at Sudbury YMCA Employment Services.

For those who can't attend, there is a survey they can take online.