The Polish economy needs a technological leap essential to increase productivity – without it we will not be stronger as a state and richer as a society. At the same time, this technological leap can lead to a deterioration in the quality of the working environment and a hazard of losing many people's jobs. The answer is to take account of the interests of workers erstwhile introducing fresh technologies.
In the last year, any of the most frequently repeated messages were those with the titles "AI will origin large redundancies in companies". Even if the scale of exemptions actually caused by the implementation of artificial intelligence systems does not have much to do with dramatic headlines, we can surely talk about the fact that we are seeing powerful changes in the economy resulting from the digitisation and automation of tasks. These changes affect and will increasingly affect companies in Poland. Looking at various economical reports, it can surely be said that the level of automation and digitalisation is insufficient in our country. The labour marketplace has to offer workers with adequate education and skills, but labour costs are inactive more attractive than competences.
This is not a safe starting point to deal with current changes in the planet of work. We have a large share of Shared Services Centers / Business Process Outsourcing, for which specified a mix of competent and comparatively inexpensive employees is perfect – in full it is almost half a million employees. If you add to this a comparatively large percent of employees in the logistics manufacture or office administration, we have a large group for which automation utilizing artificial intelligence is simply a real threat.
While global change cannot be stopped, technological leaps must be planned in specified a way as not to fall into the traps of digitalisation, which spoil good work and are a threat not only due to the possible decommissioning of jobs where tasks will be automated.
In addition, digital transformations affect not only those positions affected by automation.
From techno-optimism to AI-washing
New technologies are marketingly wrapped in attractive stories about how they will make life easier for people. possibly we are far from techno-optimistic visions a fewer decades ago, in which people of the future were to live a comfortable life, and hard work was to do for them.
Marketingly, there are narratives aimed at the customer’s convenience (“Just 1 click and you already have it!”) that cover the another side of digital automation for a long time, the impact on the working environment. For over a year, this second mention has been becoming more and more common, but this message to company owners: AI will replace your employees. Although after a year you can talk about AI-washing, i.e. justifying the introduction of any fresh technology of any group redundancies, we are surely at a time of major changes that may affect the work of most employees. The direction of change has been clearly visible for years and it is not necessarily the unemployment due to automation that should be feared first. So let's leave the calculation of the benefits of fresh technologies to corporate digital marketing departments and look at why digital automation has a negative impact on the planet of work.
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Increasing inequality
Automation increases occupational inequalities – this is visible since the 1980s. 20th century. The easiest way to describe this is: specialists and experts gain more and more, the remainder – comparatively little and frequently for the same work. Over time, the definition of a group of specialists and experts who gain from specified changes is changing. First, automation was about workstations, where simple manual work began to make machines. Then, with the advancement of digitisation, the administrative professions began to fall out of the group of specialists, based on simple data processing.
The current wave of changes associated with the introduction of AI already includes possibly all cognitive workers, whose patterns can be written in algorithms.
As a result, thesis on expanding inequalities remains unchanged, but the group of workers benefiting from automation is becoming smaller. On the another hand, increasingly fresh professional groups can anticipate a deterioration in wage conditions erstwhile their competences are no longer specialised and can be automated.
Algorithm Manager
Algorithmic management is becoming increasingly common in organizations where management decisions are replaced by algorithms. The work is automatically monitored, measured and based on these data and strategy settings decently evaluated. Companies can reduce the number of employees in management posts who utilized to be liable for carrying out these functions, nomen omen, management. The dissemination of all forms of digital monitoring has importantly facilitated the introduction of specified systems – in utmost cases, as in platform organisations specified as Uber, Bolt, Gloto, Pyszne.pl, people doing a 100 percent occupation are subject to automated decision-making and are not able to appeal to the decision of the algorithm. But even on a smaller scale specified automation of steering functions affects the working environment.
A sense of full control, a deficiency of ability to negociate graphics or premium amounts, an expanding sense of subjectivity and autonomy in deciding to execute tasks – these are only any of the effects of spreading algorithmic management.
These are not solutions for the welfare of workers, it is frequently a primitive behavioral approach, which is to look for incentives that will increase workers' efficiency to the top extent.
Platforming organisations
The platform organisations mentioned above can be described as models for the modern economy. Today, the most fashionable and most likely the most effective model of the organization is the platform, which connects clients and those who organize the whole. This can be described as a subcontractor model, where a crucial proportion of workers – mostly those performing the least attractive and least paid tasks – are those employed in another entities, subcontractors supplying labour. frequently not even employed, but working under B2B contracts. In specified a model, workers' rights are usually limited to those who have posts at the headquarters, organising the work of the full organisation.
Workers' problems are shifted to subcontractors, which can always be said not to be part of a corp with a known name in case of trouble. From the point of view of employees, therefore, we have instability of employment and earnings, limited labour rights, uncertainty of plans in the event of jumping from 1 payer to another (the alleged gig economy). specified a planet consists of quite a few companies, companies and businesses working for a corp that has an application by which the client buys a service or product. For the client it is simply a convenience to use, without awareness of the chain of executive links. This convenience frequently involves exploitation of people who do real work for the client.
AI and work of inferior quality
Artificial intelligence is designed to boost the quality of work, raising average workers to the level of experts. specified a description would propose that more people will have the chance to control to a group of specialists, which, as a guess, gives opportunities for better earnings. However, the effect looks completely different.
If, in any area of the AI, it allows non-specialists to enter the expert level massively, it besides reduces the remuneration of existing experts or even eliminates their positions: i.e., fresh experts present execute non-expert work due to the fact that their competences have been automated.
However, only those specialists for whom the AI operates complementaryly, i.e. complements their skills and allows them to execute tasks that took quite a few time faster, but did not require their unique expert skills. Your doctor may execute the diagnostic process more rapidly on the basis of an imaging examination, and his unique competence is to plan the treatment. In this case, technology actually allows us to get to a higher level. However, this does not apply to all expert professions, and the improvement of the AI is aimed at seeking the anticipation of replacing as many tasks as possible, performed by highly paid specialists.
From this perspective, specialist skills associated with manual activities seem more assured today. Where words, numbers or images are processed, automation can be expected.
Of course, fresh technologies besides make fresh jobs, but everything indicates that so far there are besides few. In addition, various phenomena can be expected here, limiting the supply of good positions. possibly the future model of expert teams will look like that well-paid professionals will not have teams of people around who will be working on projects, but AI agents, or software that alternatively of people will be doing work under the leadership of 1 man.
If you look at hard data, you will announcement that request is expanding primarily for workers whose tasks are far from AI applications. By World economical Forum report of 2025, the best chances of employment are: agricultural workers, drivers, construction workers, sellers, medical professionals, waiters. The only profession in the area of fresh technologies in this ranking is programmers, on whom there is inactive demand, but this is already becoming a two-speed profession, with experts and others who may fear automation soon.
The situation is even different Report of the global Monetary Fund: low-skilled workers "get" due to the fact that the upper, ever-rich part of the population, which reaps the most benefits from economical change, can spend more and more and increase request for catering, cleaning, care or courier delivery.
At the same time, it is clearly indicated in the study that medium-skilled workers are losing their skills in turns.
Sometimes they lose their jobs and all they have left is to take these low-paid activities – so these "benefits" can look in reality.
Poland and susceptible groups
Global trends besides concern Poland. Looking at our economy, there are respective groups for which technological change can mean problems.
The youngest workers lose their opportunities to take off at junior positions, due to the fact that this is the kind of tasks that the AI automates first. The oldest workers, who are 50 years of age, are not considered in recruitment by presumption (mostly false) as not following technological changes. Women are more susceptible to the negative effects of the introduction of AI due to the fact that they mainly work in administrative departments. People from smaller cities where there are no large companies can besides anticipate risks alternatively than benefits. On the another hand, we have a large-town outsourcing industry, which has already been affected by digital automation exemptions last year.
So we have many groups of workers already threatened by global processes, and at the same time as a country the request to accelerate these changes, which, if left behind by the mythical hands of the free market, could increase the hazard of expanding occupational inequalities in Poland.
Liberal communicative would be simple: let us leave everything to the forces of request and supply, everything will be equal in time, and people should invest in the improvement of fresh competences. If this had worked differently than before, reports and proposals from scientists and economical institutions would not have mentioned the request for a completely different approach.
Of course, there is simply a point in these proposals to supply workers with fresh competences, but the work for this task is attributed to both companies and the state, which can thus reduce technological unemployment. In addition, there is simply a request to regulate the area of fresh technologies, which from respective breakthrough innovations (big date, social media, AI) function in the grey area in terms of private data law or copyright law. In addition, there is an expanding request for technological change, with the formal inclusion of workers' voice as those who are subject to these changes and who are actually implementing them.
Need for technology area regulation
As far as legal issues are concerned, we see more and more initiatives coming from the EU institutions.
First of all, we have 2 large regulations adopted by the European Parliament. 1 concerns artificial intelligence (AI Act) and treats this area much broader than the work context described here. The aim of the AI Act is to introduce regulation to limit the social harm of artificial intelligence solutions. The Regulation takes into account algorithmic management systems or automated recruitment systems as high-risk systems in the legal nomenclature of the document. This means that it is essential to certify the maker and to inform employees of the application of specified systems in the workplace. This law is to be introduced gradually in Poland in the coming months.
The second EU solution is the alleged Platform Directive (No 2024/2831), which organises the employment of platform workers. The presumption of employment relation under certain conditions and the transparency of algorithms utilized in worker management will be introduced. This should have a crucial impact on the platform labour market. Poland is required to implement these solutions in December 2026.
As regards Polish regulations from this area, a fewer years ago the Sejm Committee on Digitization, Innovation and Modern Technology began work on supplementing the Trade Unions Act to give them the right to check the parameters of existing employees in the framework of algorithmic management with respect to employment decisions, working conditions and wages. 2 years ago, the task entered the Sejm. Government affirmative gave an opinion on the project, a paper a year and a half ago reads: "The introduction of solutions that will let people subject to the operation of artificial intelligence algorithms and systems, as well as trade unions, employees' representatives and labour law enforcement supervisors, whether the labour organisation strategy utilizing algorithms and artificial intelligence respects the principles of labour law, whether it does not object to a individual and treat him in a way that violates his constitutionally protected dignity, is most desirable and desirable". Good words, however, for many months nothing has happened with respect to this bill.
Key function of worker representation
Regulations should form the foundation for business activities. The introduction of digital technologies can be viewed as a process of managing change. In this context, it is clear that the advanced participation of workers in the implementation of changes is better achieved through greater productivity and improved quality of work.
It is not possible to treat the introduction of solutions that interfere with organizational practices specified as AI technologies or algorithmic management elements, specified as applications that are installed and to operate immediately.
The participation of employees should be a essential component and should be in the interests of any owner with management knowledge.
This is more and more evident in economical diagnosis of the impact of AI on work. Even in the reports of highly profit-oriented advisory companies, there are already expressions specified as: "Companys should invest in people alternatively of reasoning about replacing them" (Forrester AI occupation Impact Forecast). More progressive researchers can read these thesis in unambiguous versions. Daren Acemoglu, economist at MIT and Nobel Prize laureate, for years stresses the request to strengthen worker representation to reduce the inequality caused by automation. Pressaridies Review Report, based on research, powerfully indicates that companies implementing fresh solutions with advanced worker participation have a much better impact, which besides translates into workers' salaries. For the authors of this report, it is apparent that workers' organisations should sit at the board table before deciding to buy AI technology to negociate principles of good automation. You can besides look at these processes from the ethical side, for this approach the foundation is good work (fair work), and organisations representing workers should be the guardian of ethical automation.
The basic conclusion of the analysis of changes in the planet of work can be formulated as follows:
If we want a technological leap in Poland, at the same time we request to take care of the productive context of these changes, otherwise we are threatened by the progressive degradation of the working environment
– expanding wage inequality, replacing automated posts with worse, technological unemployment.
At the state level, this means introducing legal changes to strengthen the labour side in order to make a foundation for transformation in companies, which can besides be considered beneficial for workers. EU regulations are a starting point, but they are insufficient in their current form. The European Parliament is working on an AI Directive in the workplace which would explicitly specify the requirements for consulting employees in the implementation of specified technologies. However, this is simply a distant time horizon, previously the Polish parliament should adopt the prepared, already mentioned earlier, Act on the right to consult algorithms by trade unions.
The level of companies seems crucial, even with limited regulatory foundations. Owners and managers should halt treating AI solutions as wonderful applications, automatically improving efficiency. These are technologies that should be implemented in accordance with the principles of effective change in the organization – people who are to usage the technology are to be prepared as best as possible, through the co-creation of these changes. Without people, it will not work, although marketing promises present it in the other way.
In order to guarantee good work, workers' organisations must become those who guarantee a fair sharing of the benefits of technological development.
This requires the preparation of trade unions and labour councils, knowing what changes are about and making full usage of the possibilities of law. The presentation of information on the application of algorithms, showing the readiness to sit at the table in terms of designing solutions, building the skills to consult projects – these are steps requiring fast work, developing expertise and preparing to work on technological changes.
At the moment, we are operating in a marketing reality of myths around AI, which surely have a strong influence on decision makers in companies.
Technology manufacturers encourage both benefits specified as: ‘AI will be cheaper than your employees’ and fear: ‘If you do not rapidly implement AI, you will fall out of the market’. It is not in their interest to deal with good work, on their part workers can only hear good advice about the request for fresh competences. Therefore, the welfare of workers must be ensured so that these changes in the working environment can have a affirmative context and bring social benefits.
