Clearly there has always been a strong aversion by airline managements to encourage hand flying and this will only get worse as automation increases in sophistication (as if it can get much better than it is now).
Until this head in the sand mindset, encouraged by aircraft manufacturers, is changed, then automation dependency will steadily increase. It is further exacerbated by the widespread policy of hiring of cadet first officers who will have known nothing but blind reliance on automation since they left flying school.
In Australia back in the late Fifties 200 hour first officers without instrument ratings occasionally got jobs flying DC3's. The autopilot on the DC3 was primitive by today's standards and used mainly for straight and level flight. So pilots hand flew the climb and descent as this was easier than twiddling the knobs of the Sperry autopilot. That way inexperienced first officers gained manipulative skills in all weathers. Captains did not complain of being overloaded in watching the first officer hand flying. Nor did the first officers complain of being overwhelmed from basic cockpit duties from watching the captain hand fly. Of course automation dependency nowadays makes the thought of watching the captain or first officer hand fly, a scary experience
Even allowing for regulatory and airspace restrictions, an airline policy that encourages hand flying practice - especially in IMC - would go a long way to improving situational awareness and pure flying skills of inexperienced first officers. There has been much hand wringing by media flight safety journalists on the issue of the Air France A330 accident and other similar tragedies. And rightly so. But until regulatory authorities bite the bullet and push for effective solutions to the modern problem of automation dependency, there are certain to be occasional repeats of loss of control in IMC.
Low hour first officers are not necessarily the cause of these accidents but one day they will be captains like those involved in many loss of control accidents. It is not too late to give these first officers the chance to keep current on hand flying within the framework of company SOP's.