Although initially wary of automation, warehouse workers have grown to recognize the value of robots in making their work easier, according to research conducted recently by the robot manufacturer Lucas Systems.

A survey of 500 on-floor warehouse and fulfillment center workers throughout the United States found that three out of four of those polled were willing to say that they consider robots to be their friends – not their foes – when they are doing their jobs.

“They trust robots as a partner to help them do their jobs better,” Lucas pointed out. “Workers value robots as colleagues, mainly because of their ability to help reduce physical stress, and achieve better performance in picking and accuracy.”

Lucas said this is primarily because of robots’ contribution to reducing the workers’ physical stress and driving improved performance regarding picking and packing accuracy.

Having tech as part of the job is important to Gen Z workers who ranked that even higher than pay. The survey found that 74% of workers said they are willing to trade pay for better tech to do their jobs.

"These are all signs that tomorrow's warehouses will need to operate differently than they do today," explains the Lucas company’s Chief Marketing Officer Ken Ramoutar.

"Gen Z workers expect to use modern technologies like they use at home. Handheld and personalized, tech must be easy to use and must help them save time and mitigate exertion."

Also, 74% are at least somewhat likely to take a pay cut to work at another company with more technology tools to help them do their job, including more than half (52%) who held this was extremely or very likely, according to the survey.