According to a survey conducted by American market research company Forrester Consulting, corporate investment in automation technology to help companies with repetitive and rule-based tasks has increased steadily, with 40 percent of respondents planning to increase their group or department spending on robotic process automation (RPA) technology by more than 10 percent in the next 12 months.

The fast adoption rate of automation affects jobs differently, with the survey predicting that 80 percent of jobs would be transformed and 29 percent of jobs would be replaced by automation.

“All in all, though, we’re looking at a substantial reduction in the traditional workforce — not the specialist, but the generalist workforce — by full implementation of the automation process,” the survey wrote.

This may increase concerns among workers. Forty-one percent of the survey’s respondents said their employees were concerned they lacked the digital skills their job might require and 53 percent said their employees were concerned and felt threatened by the more complex tasks they faced now and would face in the future.

To ease these anxieties, companies need to invest in their employees, Forrester Consulting suggested.

 According to the survey, 42 percent of respondents said their organizations improved their employees’ experience by providing financial support for additional certification.

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