The seventh episode of the series "Human 2040", entitled "I work", shows the reality of the work of the future. Will artificial intelligence be able to manage a company's finances in 2040? Would AI be a good boss? And how much time will we be working then? In the latest part of the series, analysts from Polityka Insight take up such topics as the development of remote working in its various forms, a further increase in the efficiency or changes in office space. In a podcast on trends on the labor market of the future, Andrzej Bobiński, managing director of Polityka Insight, talks to Joanna Średnicka, PhD, co-founder of the Training Games Studio, initiator of the project of online games in competence testing and initiator of the Game Changers Academy - innovative management development programs based on games and simulations.

BOOM IN THE HUMAN-TO-HUMAN (H2H) SERVICES SECTOR

According to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), services provided by humans to an individual customer without the involvement and intermediation of algorithms and technologies already account for 10% of all services. Remarkably, those employed in this sector can count on salaries comparable to those of specialised jobs related to new technologies and are several times higher than the guaranteed monthly income.

The H2H sector was created in response to increasing consumer fatigue with services provided by machinery and equipment without human activity. For many, especially elderly people, genuine contact with others and the socialisation factor are important parts of the consumer experience for which they are prepared to pay more (prices of services provided by people are higher than their technological counterparts). For this reason, care professions (both for the elderly and children), wellbeing in general (masseurs, physiotherapists, personal trainers and psychotherapists) and education (additional classes for students) are the most popular in the sector.

Most of these services are performed by AI devices and systems in the same or better way (in terms of their effects and performance), but in the opinion of the consumers surveyed by the Central Statistical Office: ‘the motivation given by the other person during training is not comparable even to the most genuine VR-trainer’. Supporters of H2H services, especially older people, are not even convinced by the fact that modern algorithms and devices are equipped with socalled AI-Emotion, which are solutions that enable them to read correctly and react empathetically to people’s emotional states. This attachment to the ‘human’ aspect of the relationship and nostalgia for the past are used by H2H service providers to reproduce the experiences from the 2020s and earlier as accurately as possible. Services such as cosmetics are not provided at the customer's home, but in traditional showrooms usually located at central points of housing estates (enclaves). Consumers therefore have the opportunity to meet in a waiting room, drink a traditionally made coffee or tea and talk before the planned treatment. 

The H2H boom offers an opportunity for an increasing number of people qualified as ‘economically redundant’ – these are often middle class representatives whose previous work is currently fully performed by machinery and algorithms (e.g. public administration officers, male and female secretaries, accountants and customer service staff). In order to retrain, they often use publicly available training applications and a state-supported micro-graduate system – courses organized in an extended and virtual form make it possible to quickly acquire new skills, and the improvements that have been made in the area of e-State for years make it possible to register and start a business on the very same day. 

According to a Central Statistical Office (GUS) forecast, although H2H services will not outperform their technological counterparts, the share of the sector in the total services provided will continue to grow in the coming years. The H2H sector will probably fade away along with the passing of the generation born in the early 21st century, who were the last to benefit from these kinds of solutions in everyday life.

SEJM ADOPTS A NEW LABOR CODE

The legislation will finally keep pace with the recent digital revolution in the labor market for more than twenty years. The previous Code, although amended on several occasions, was drawn up in 1974 and has in many places not been adapted to current technological and social realities. The Act is still waiting for the president's signature and the new regulations will come into force in January 2041.

Workplace.  The legislator has considerably restricted the employer's right to indicate the ‘place of work’. This is the last part of the evolution that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 towards the spread of remote and hybrid solutions. The new regulation assumes that the employer cannot unreasonably refuse to provide the employee with work in a remote form. However, he/she has the right to indicate not more than two days in the month in which the employee should work in a place specified by the superior. An exception to this rule is of course a situation where, due to the nature of the activities carried out, presence in a particular place (e.g. in the workplace) is necessary. 

Working time. The working time rules have also been made considerably more flexible in favor of the employee. Except for cases arising from the nature of the work, the employer will not be able to determine rigorously the hours during which the employee is to perform his/her duties. However, it will be possible to indicate deadlines for precisely defined tasks and estimated limits of hours spent on performing them (exceeding them will be the basis for additional remuneration for overtime hours and will be used to adjust the estimated number of manhours for subsequent tasks – provided that the algorithm supervising work in the company confirms that the employee has demonstrated at least average efficiency during the performed task). As a general rule, work should be carried out up to four days per week and the average number of manhours on a quarterly basis should not exceed 32 per week

Management and supervision of a superior. Finally, in the new code, the legislator provided for a situation in which AI software is the direct superior of a human being, which is common in many workplaces. The Code pays particular attention to the precise definition of the “right to human error” which, under certain conditions, cannot constitute grounds for dismissal. The legislator also provided for specific procedures for cases of employees objecting to a decision of the algorithm and the arbitration in which the HAM (Human-Algorithm Mediator) makes a decision, i.e. a mediator selected from among human employees. Any employer who uses artificial intelligence to manage processes in a company will have the obligation to create such a position.

Employee's privacy rights. The rules on employee data collected by the employer raise the most controversies and ambiguities. The employer will have the right to analyse the digital footprint of an individual during the recruitment process. However, once an agreement has been signed, he/she will not be able to draw any professional consequences for the employee's activity and involvement detected in tracking his/her digital fingerprint ‘unless they have a direct link with his/her position.’ The Code also provides that an e-certificate issued to an employee after the end of the employment relationship may contain a digital trace from the employment period (for the future employer's review), but only to the extent ‘directly related to the professional duties performed.’ The imprecision of the concepts proposed in the Code (which activities are directly linked to work and which are not, especially in the case of remote work) criticized by employee organizations and human rights defenders, and the final scope of the information provided and protected, will probably be determined by the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REPLACES HUMAN AS CFO

As noted by the spokesperson of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Live AI, a company listed on the WIG-20, has decided not to appoint a Chief Financial Officer after the former CFO assumed the position of president of the company. The financial and reporting obligations will be fully performed by an algorithm.

Entrusting de facto the function of a CFO to algorithms completes the process of digitization and exploitation of artificial intelligence in the management of the financial aspects of a company. Financial management and supervisory roles were the last appointed to humans in this division. Previously, from the bottom of the ‘management pyramid,’ machines have replaced, among others, standard accountants and payroll employees. In the next step, algorithms became better than people in financial analytics and budget planning and implementation.

In recent years, CFOs have to a large extent performed a control function, although given the volume of analysed data and the decisions taken on the basis thereof by algorithms, it would be more appropriate to describe it as a notary one. Highly effective algorithms provided for commodity prices and stock market increases and decreases on the basis of which purchasing decisions were made. The elimination of the human factor has also reduced the risk of irregularities and financial crime – any deviations and suspicious transactions are automatically reported to the e-audit and supervisory unit. Although the CFO did not have the opportunity to verify whether the algorithm made accurate decisions, he/she had to authorise the execution of key transactions and make decisions whose effects were estimated to be above a certain threshold amount. Live AI, by abandoning the human CFO, moves away from perpetuating this fiction.

The unprecedented delegation of powers over financial matters to algorithms makes it possible for existing CFOs to use their expertise and experience in other positions. It appears that the company's decision to entrust its CFO with CEO functions will be repeated in the future in other companies. In view of some of the doubts arising from the ‘self-sufficiency’ of the algorithm in financial matters, a president with an economic background who, in the event of a crisis, will be ready to take over the reins from AI, will be the natural choice of shareholders and supervisory boards.

Representatives of the management boards of the remaining companies listed on the WIG-20 have approached the announced decision with great reserve. As they suggest, many with a sneer, ‘although perhaps 80% of business decisions are made on the basis of reasonable indicators, human factors have always allowed for some flexibility. It will be difficult to discuss with the board why employees should receive a Christmas bonus despite achieving results below the KPI and the president should replace a 3-year-old Tesla with a newer and better model. The decision will also require amendments to the regulations concerning reporting and information obligations, including the registration of all members of the management board in the National Court Register.