How do employees in the Polish financial sector react to automation in their workplace?

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Phrasing of survey questions and answers

Pre-pandemic automation experience
Have you experienced any changes in your job responsibilities due to the implementation of new technologies (information systems, specialized software, algorithms, robots) in your company in the last three years?
• Yes, most of the tasks I perform have been automated (>80%)	Major automation
• Yes, more than half of the tasks I perform have been automated (51–80%)
• Yes, some of the tasks I perform have been automated (21–50%)	Minor automation
• Yes, a few of the tasks I perform have been automated (<20%)
• No, the implemented technologies have not changed the scope of my responsibilities.	No automation
Changes in automation during COVID-19
Have you experienced an intensification of task automation processes within the scope of your responsibilities during the pandemic (since March 2020)?
• Yes, the pace of automation of my tasks noticeably accelerated during the pandemic.	Significant acceleration
• Yes, the pace of automation of my tasks accelerated during the pandemic, but only slightly.	Moderate acceleration
• No, I did not experience an intensification of task automation processes during the pandemic.	No acceleration
Automation expectations
In your opinion, what share of the tasks within your current responsibilities will be automated in the next 5 years?
• I believe that most of the tasks I perform today will be automated (>80%)	Major future automation
• I believe that more than half of the tasks I perform today will be automated (51–80%)
• I think that some of the tasks I perform today will be automated (21–50%)	Minor future automation
• I believe that only a few of the tasks I perform today will be automated (<20%)
• I think that the technologies being implemented will not change the scope of my current responsibilities.	No future automation
Fear of automation
Due to the advancing automation and digitization of the financial sector, I feel anxious about my job.
• I strongly agree	Fear of automation
• I rather agree
• I don’t know	No opinion
• I rather disagree	No fear of automation
• I strongly disagree

Correlation significance and effect size measure between the automation acceleration during COVID-19 and variables of interest

Variable	Type	Pearson Chi2	P-value	Cramer’s V	Gamma
Age	Ordinal	7.43	0.12	0.15
Education	Ordinal	3.7	0.72	0.10
Occupation	Nominal	6.84	0.55	0.14
Character of firm	Dichotomous	0.72	0.7	0.07
Automation experience	Ordinal	31.56	0.0***	0.30	0.52

Demographic and work characteristics of the sample

Variable	Values	Frequency	Percentage
Gender	Male	90	52%
	Female	82	48%
Age group	18 - 35	41	24%
	36 - 47	97	56%
	48 +	34	20%
Education	Secondary	7	4%
	Bachelor	17	10%
	Master	138	80%
	PhD	10	6%
Occupation	Customer advisor	24	14%
	Expert / Specialist	71	41%
	Manager	44	26%
	Executive manager, board member	26	15%
	Other	7	4%
Category of firm	Domestic bank	47	27%
	Foreign bank	87	51%
	Non-bank institution	38	22%
Character of firm	Traditional / Mixed firm	124	73%
	Digital firm	47	27%
Total		172	100%

Correlation significance and effect size measure between fear of automation and variables of interest

Variable	Type	Pearson Chi2	P-value	Cramer’s V
Age	Ordinal	1.39	0.85	0.06
Education	Ordinal	6.52	0.37	0.14
Occupation	Nominal	15.76	0.05**	0.21
Character of firm	Dichotomous	1.99	0.37	0.11
Automation experience	Ordinal	3.98	0.41	0.11
Automation acceleration (COVID-19)	Ordinal	1.22	0.88	0.06

Correlation significance and effect size measure between the pre-pandemic automation experience and variables of interest

Variable	Type	Pearson Chi2	P-value	Cramer’s V	Gamma
Age	Ordinal	12.47	0.01**	0.19	0.23
Education	Ordinal	8.69	0.07*	0.16	-0.14
Occupation	Nominal	5.59	0.69	0.13
Character of firm	Dichotomous	7.64	0.02**	0.21	0.39

Pre-pandemic automation experience among cohorts

		Automation experience in the last 3 years
		No automation		Minor automation		Major automation
		Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%
Age group	18 - 35	10	24.4	25	61	6	14.6
	36 - 47	28	28.9	57	58.8	12	12.4
	48 +	5	14.7	16	47.1	13	38.2
Education	Bachelor or less	8	41.2	8	41.2	8	17.6
	Master	31	22.5	85	61.6	22	15.9
	PhD	4	40	5	50	1	10
Occupation	Customer advisor	7	29.2	11	45.8	6	25
	Expert / Specialist	21	29.6	37	52.1	13	18.3
	Manager	9	20.5	27	61.4	8	18.2
	Executive manager, board member	4	15.4	19	73.1	3	11.5
	Other	2	28.6	4	57.1	1	14.3
Character of firm	Traditional / Mixed character	36	28.8	72	57.6	17	13.6
	Digital firm	7	14.9	26	55.3	14	29.8

Correlation significance and effect size measures between automation expectations and variables of interest

Variable	Type	Pearson Chi2	P-value	Cramer’s V	Gamma
Age	Ordinal	11.47	0.02**	0.22	0.13
Education	Ordinal	6.86	0.33	0.17
Occupation	Nominal
Character of firm	Dichotomous	5.47	0.09*	0.21	0.03
Automation experience	Ordinal	11.86	0.02**	0.22	0.34
Automation acceleration (COVID-19)	Ordinal	13.82	0.01***	0.24	0.47