Florists
Florists sell flowers and related products in a wholesale or retail business, and design and make up floral bouquets, wreaths, tributes and other floral arrangements for sale to the public.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.3/10 Minimal 2.6/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 2.6/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.3/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 19% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.
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Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
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Set up machines to polish, bevel, edge, or grind lenses, flats, blanks, or other precision optical elements.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
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Inspect, weigh, and measure mounted or unmounted lenses after completion to verify alignment and conformance to specifications, using precision instruments.
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Examine prescriptions, work orders, or broken or used eyeglasses to determine specifications for lenses, contact lenses, or other optical elements.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians" (51-9083.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 18 tasks, unaided
No tasks here are labelled as something an LLM can do unaided. Switch to 'With tools' above to see what changes when AI is paired with the right context.
What still needs a person
18 of 18 tasks
Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.
Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
Set up machines to polish, bevel, edge, or grind lenses, flats, blanks, or other precision optical elements.
Inspect, weigh, and measure mounted or unmounted lenses after completion to verify alignment and conformance to specifications, using precision instruments.
Shape lenses appropriately so that they can be inserted into frames.
Clean finished lenses and eyeglasses, using cloths and solvents.
Mount, secure, and align finished lenses in frames or optical assemblies, using precision hand tools.
Examine prescriptions, work orders, or broken or used eyeglasses to determine specifications for lenses, contact lenses, or other optical elements.
Adjust lenses and frames to correct alignment.
Select lens blanks, molds, tools, and polishing or grinding wheels, according to production specifications.
Position and adjust cutting tools to specified curvature, dimensions, and depth of cut.
Assemble eyeglass frames and attach shields, nose pads, and temple pieces, using pliers, screwdrivers, and drills.
Immerse eyeglass frames in solutions to harden, soften, or dye frames.
Set dials and start machines to polish lenses or hold lenses against rotating wheels to polish them manually.
Lay out lenses and trace lens outlines on glass, using templates.
Control equipment that coats lenses to alter their reflective qualities.
Repair broken parts, using precision hand tools and soldering irons.
Remove lenses from molds and separate lenses in containers for further processing or storage.
Tasks via O*NET "Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians" (51-9083.00).
What AI can already do
3 of 18 tasks, with tools
Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
Inspect, weigh, and measure mounted or unmounted lenses after completion to verify alignment and conformance to specifications, using precision instruments.
Examine prescriptions, work orders, or broken or used eyeglasses to determine specifications for lenses, contact lenses, or other optical elements.
What still needs a person
15 of 18 tasks
Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.
Set up machines to polish, bevel, edge, or grind lenses, flats, blanks, or other precision optical elements.
Shape lenses appropriately so that they can be inserted into frames.
Clean finished lenses and eyeglasses, using cloths and solvents.
Mount, secure, and align finished lenses in frames or optical assemblies, using precision hand tools.
Adjust lenses and frames to correct alignment.
Select lens blanks, molds, tools, and polishing or grinding wheels, according to production specifications.
Position and adjust cutting tools to specified curvature, dimensions, and depth of cut.
Assemble eyeglass frames and attach shields, nose pads, and temple pieces, using pliers, screwdrivers, and drills.
Immerse eyeglass frames in solutions to harden, soften, or dye frames.
Set dials and start machines to polish lenses or hold lenses against rotating wheels to polish them manually.
Lay out lenses and trace lens outlines on glass, using templates.
Control equipment that coats lenses to alter their reflective qualities.
Repair broken parts, using precision hand tools and soldering irons.
Remove lenses from molds and separate lenses in containers for further processing or storage.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons