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Who will win and lose from the digitalization of jobs in Russia

Digitalization is declared as one of the main areas of technological development in Russia. This process is actively supported by the authorities who want to stimulate economic growth in the country in this way.

But the influence of digital technologies on the economy is not unambiguous. Digitalization replaces employees from certain segments of the labor market. Algorithms often replace human labor, in particular in the automotive industry. Automation, which contributes to work, leads to a deterioration in the quality of jobs.

An alternative model of digitalization - help busy in performing their tasks. For example, digital navigation in the car provides assistance to a professional driver in choosing a route and avoids traffic jams, but does not replace it.

The problem is that the digitalization process does not spread uniformly. I suppose that quite automated administrative tasks will not be automated. The management building will simply not buy solutions that automate its functions.

And if he buys under pressure from higher authorities, he will immediately come up with complementary or duplicate tasks in order to maintain administrative control in his hands.

But the tasks performed by ordinary employees will be automated mercilessly. In the economy with a weak negotiation position of ordinary workers, which Russia belongs, it is top management that forms the demand for digitalization technology. Ordinary employees in this process play only a peripheral role. If and when technologies appear, thanks to which banks can, like some car manufacturers, do without employees, management prefers to mainly get rid of human labor.

At the same time, a significant part of the work of top managers is also amenable to automation. Digital solutions can perform the functions of the coordinator, selecting the best candidate to fulfill a certain order, distribute duties, process information about the completion of the tasks and make decisions on the results of the work performed, including determining the size of the salary.

However, managers will hardly want to automate their activities. They, like any other workers, do not want to be on the labor exchange and move to the segment of jobs characterized by low salary, lack of career capabilities and difficult working conditions.

And, unlike ordinary workers, they have means and opportunities to protect themselves from such a fate.

Instead, managers will purchase digital packages that make their work more convenient. For example, allowing the details to track progress in the implementation of projects and the implementation of instructions by subordinates. Management will strive to maintain power over resources and employees, so we are unlikely to wait for the salary of employees (and even more so the top managers themselves) to be automatically determined, and not at the table of the boss. And ordinary workers will be increasingly replaced by certain segments of the labor market due to technologies that replace their work.