Tellers

Receive and pay out money. Keep records of money and negotiable instruments involved in a financial institution's various transactions.

The occupation of "Tellers" is assigned an automation risk of 75.9%, which is closely aligned with its base risk of 76.8%. This high risk primarily results from the repetitive and highly structured nature of many teller duties. Tasks such as balancing cash drawers, receiving and verifying deposits, and monitoring vault balances are all routine activities that can be efficiently performed by automated systems. These top three most automatable tasks not only require precise calculations but are already being integrated into modern banking systems through ATMs, cash recycling machines, and advanced transaction software. Automation solutions reduce human errors and lower labor costs, making them attractive for banks and financial institutions. Conversely, certain tasks performed by tellers remain resistant to automation due to their need for nuanced human judgment or customer service skills. Informing customers about foreign currency regulations and calculating transaction fees for currency exchanges, for example, can involve assessing individual circumstances, answering complex queries, and addressing unique customer concerns. Similarly, issuing checks to bond owners in settlement of transactions, and quoting unit exchange rates based on fluctuating daily international rate sheets, are functions that benefit from human discretion and attention to detail. These more complex, less predictable aspects of the role present significant challenges for automated systems, making them less susceptible to replacement in the immediate future. Despite these resistant tasks, the overall bottleneck skill providing the most protection against automation in the teller role is "Originality," rated at a low level (2.3%). This low reliance indicates that the majority of teller work does not significantly leverage creative problem-solving or unique interpersonal approaches. As such, the tasks that do require originality are infrequent and not central to the occupation’s core functions. Because the bulk of a teller’s responsibilities can be standardized and replicated by technology, the occupation remains at high risk for automation, with only a minority of tasks offering resilience due to the need for nuanced customer interaction or complex financial judgment.