Fear of the machine shows up at the desk, not in the headlines

A study led by researchers at Washington State University followed more than 600 workers across US industries, including finance and construction, over six years¹. It was published in the journal Occupational Health Science¹.

What it measured. Not ordinary job insecurity, the worry of losing one job at one firm, but what the lead author, psychology professor Tahira Probst, calls occupation insecurity: the fear that technology will transform or erase a whole line of work¹. A bartender who loses a job can find another bar. A medical coder whose occupation is automated cannot simply move to another employer¹.

What it found. Workers who worried that automation would make their occupation obsolete were more likely to justify behaviour they would normally call inappropriate, such as turning up late or taking a colleague’s lunch¹.

What the author does not claim. The study was not designed to estimate how many jobs AI will replace¹. Probst also told Spokane Public Radio that “a single study doesn’t prove anything” and asked for replication in places with different labour protections and AI rules¹. That caution is part of the result.

The constructive point. Her main takeaway is about management: “how organizations roll out these AI tools matters enormously”¹. If employees are left to make sense of the change alone, the fear does its own damage, whether or not it is justified¹. A clear plan for the rollout, written down and explained to staff, is routine office work. It may also be the best protection against the fear doing harm.