REORGANIZING WORK INSIDE THE FIRM: TASK CHANGE AFTER TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

Abstract

We study how an incumbent workforce adapts to technological change using panel data at the worker-task level from a large Latin American bank. We exploit two sequential interventions that separately shift production technology and organizational design, with- out displacing labor: the staggered rollout of a mobile banking app that automates routine transactions, and a subsequent redefinition of roles and performance criteria that priori- tizes complex tasks such as SME lending. While automation creates substantial productive capacity—raising output per worker by roughly 20 percent—it does not, on its own, lead to task upgrading. Workers continue to concentrate on routine tasks, rather than shift- ing toward high-value complex tasks. Task reallocation occurs only after the firm explic- itly reallocates priorities. Even then, adjustment is markedly slower among high-tenure workers, consistent with firm-specific human capital generating inertia in task change. High-quality managers act as an important complement to technology adaptation, lower- ing adjustment costs and facilitating reallocation toward complex tasks.