More than half of large companies are either implementing or planning—within the next six months—to invest in automation or artificial intelligence in their business processes. One in four has no such plans in the near term, according to a Trenkwalder Polska report based on a survey of 500 employers. Among small and medium-sized enterprises, the proportions are reversed, with significantly more negative responses. At the same time, 16% of all companies admit that the growing pressure to develop technology and undergo technological transformation is a major challenge for them.
“It seems that in today’s world—when we hear every day about new technologies and their development—digitalisation should already be happening as a natural trend. Yet it turns out that this is not entirely the case,” Ewelina Glińska-Kołodziej, President of Trenkwalder Polska and a Management Board Member of the Polish HR Forum, told Newseria.
The survey, conducted in November 2025 for the report “Employers’ Challenges”, shows that 23.4% of the 500 surveyed companies are already implementing automation and AI solutions—especially in the area of HR tech. Only 14.4% plan such investments within the next six months, while 24% are considering them in the longer term. More than 38% of respondents say they do not plan such implementations at all. As the report’s authors note, the need to keep up with the accelerating digital revolution puts additional pressure on entrepreneurs to expand their technological capabilities and digital infrastructure. For 16%, this pressure is explicitly described as a challenge.
“Large organisations take a systemic approach and digitalise faster and more extensively—employment agencies as well—whereas in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises, the situation looks a bit different,” Glińska-Kołodziej emphasises. “Investment plans for digitalisation and AI in 2026 are very cautious. While more than half of large enterprises are already in the middle of, or have started, some digitalisation processes, 20% still say they might move into digitalisation only in the second half of 2026. Almost one quarter of large enterprises say that for now they are not planning any implementations at all.”
Among medium-sized companies, nearly 37% gave such a negative response, and among small companies the share is close to half (48%).
“Large companies have substantial IT back-up, global solutions, and more resources to invest and to engage teams in implementing digitalisation. Small and medium-sized enterprises have these resources very limited,” explains the President of Trenkwalder Polska.
Among small businesses, 28% are investing—or plan to invest—in digitalisation within the next six months, and 24% in the longer term. The report’s authors point out that these organisations feel relatively less pressure to automate (64%, compared with 83.3% among large corporations).
“The motivation for implementing digitalisation is based on very concrete arguments. The first is costs and productivity—less work, fewer resources, less need to involve employees or hire new ones. There are also staff shortages and the need to relieve specialists within the company. Another factor is eliminating paper and thereby increasing data security, as well as the ability to scale processes while maintaining the same quality,” Glińska-Kołodziej lists.
Digitalisation may also be forced on companies by legal changes and requirements imposed by lawmakers.
“Examples include the digitalisation of procedures for legalising the employment of foreigners, or the KSeF regulations, which will compel companies to digitalise invoicing and accounting,” notes the head of Trenkwalder Polska.
Similar disparities in investment are visible in the HR sector itself. The report “HR Tech Changer 2025”, recently published by the Polish HR Forum, indicates that agencies and recruitment companies are implementing automation and AI-based solutions on a large scale, while small organisations still often run HR in an analogue model. In the first group, 98% of specialists use HR tech tools, whereas in the second it is 62%.
“The high level of caution in planning and implementing investments is, of course, the result of limited budgets, small teams, and competency gaps. Companies are also aware of signals coming from the market that, in practice, 95% of various investments or initiated projects based on AI technology will never actually see the light of day and are closed before implementation. That’s why companies are very cautious—and that’s a good thing. It’s worth planning and designing implementations properly and thinking through what they are supposed to deliver: what is worth automating, where it makes sense to invest in AI technology, and where it may be better to outsource certain areas of activity to external firms that have already implemented digitalisation and automation,” Glińska-Kołodziej assesses. “Still, I believe that maintaining competitiveness will require changes in technology and processes in every organisation.”
In HR, technology most often supports recruitment-related processes, including candidate screening (32%), candidate sourcing (25%), and managing candidate databases (19%). In larger organisations, digital solutions already support nearly every stage of the employee lifecycle—from selection and competency assessment, through digital documentation and time management, to wellbeing and benefits. Experts stress that technology can deliver measurable benefits, such as time savings, fewer errors, and advanced data analytics.
However, the Polish HR Forum report also notes that as technology develops, awareness grows regarding its drawbacks and associated risks. Among the most significant challenges are privacy and data security, as well as algorithmic errors and AI bias.
