Survey reveals workers fear impact of tech on jobs

A new survey from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) entitled The future of work: how can we adapt to survive and thrive? has indicated that 67 per cent of new workers and almost one third of employees in general believe that the biggest driver of change in their job will be advancements in technology.

According to the survey, while some employees retain positive feelings regarding their future careers, two in five employees are uncertain or nervous about what is to come.

“The debate around technology and employment tends to be skewed towards job destruction rather than creation. It’s easy to observe the destruction of jobs through technology, but the creative effects are far more chaotic and unpredictable,” stated CAANZ CEO Lee White.

“This exacerbates a common behavioural bias of loss aversion – we dislike losses more than we like equivalent gains.”

With a fear of obsolete employment gripping many workers, almost half of respondents have indicated that they are likely to pursue further formal education in the future in order to aid their transition into other jobs and careers.

CAANZ has sought to downplay the abounding fears, indicating that there is an out-of-date perception that job mobility is seen as indicative of disloyalty or inability to settle down in a job.

“Agility and diversity in an employee’s work history is often seen as an ability on the part of the applicant to confront change, embrace different challenges and operate in different work environments.

“Furthermore, the rise of access to technology will not only improve opportunities for job seekers to search for new employment, increasing the ease of finding new jobs but will provide job ideas to those who are not seeking different roles,” he said.