My proposed solution to this, would be to allow employees to invest in the automation of their work. For example, if Company A plans to replace five thousand workers with a series of ten machines, those who stand to lose their employment at Company A should have the opportunity to buy in to these machines. They could purchase a percentage of that machine's cost, and be entitled to a percentage of that machine's productivity based on how much they invested. Being an investor though they would also be responsible for maintenance costs based on their ownership percentage. Companies would most likely need to cap the sellable percentage of a machine so as not to sell off all of it's productivity, and also to accommodate the number of potential buyers (for example as above, if five thousand people stand to lose, and up to fifty percent of each of the ten machines can be purchased, it all needs to be broken up so that each person has an opportunity to buy in. If not all the possible "shares" are bought, then there could be a second round of buy in by those who choose to, or have the money to buy more).
This not only helps the company by offsetting potential machine costs from purchasing to maintenance, but the employees who buy in would still receive a monthly cheque based on their buy in amount and the productivity of that given machine. On a more global level, humanity would literally be investing in the future. The raw cost of a new machine would be shared among employees and company, as well as the ability to enjoy the fruits of it's labour. With steady investment in the latest, best performing machines, I believe we would see a dramatic rise in both productivity and efficiency of these machines. In doing this, we leave the opportunity open for people to make an income, but not necessarily require constant employment. People could then develop their hobbies, live their lives, and yet still keep the consumer market running.
To keep income flowing for a family indefinitely, perhaps the shares purchased could be passed from one generation to the next. Once automation has reached a sufficiently high level where finding employment at a basic level of any sort becomes exceedingly difficult, perhaps companies could still hold interview processes for potential human "employees". For example, say McDonalds replaced all it's service staff with machines. As a young person with no income, I could apply for a "job" with them. If I would be someone they would have hired when they still had positions for human service workers, I would then be given the opportunity to buy a very small parentage of productivity (akin to a minimum wage type scenario).
Automation is the way of the future, there is no sign of it stopping. To continue to improve the standard of living and adapt to the changes we are creating, this seems a necessary step so that humanity can enjoy the best of both worlds. Automation without the inability of man to benefit from such.
