share why employees prefer to be tracked by machines
TRANSCRIPT
WSJ Membership
WSJ+ Membership Benefits
Subscription Options
Why Subscribe?
Corporate Subscriptions
Professor Journal
Student Journal
WSJ High School Program
WSJ Amenity Program
Public Library Program
WSJ Live
Customer Service
Customer Center
Contact Us
Tools & Features
Emails & Alerts
Guides
Topics
My News
RSS Feeds
Video Center
Watchlist
Podcasts
Ads
Advertise
Commercial Real Estate Ads
Place a Classified Ad
Sell Your Business
Sell Your Home
Recruitment & Career Ads
Coupons
More
About Us
Commercial Partnerships
Content Partnerships
Corrections
Jobs at WSJ
News Archive
Register for Free
Reprints
Buy Issues
DOW JONES, A NEWS CORP COMPANY About WSJ
WAYFAIR:Wayfair Save Big Sale: Up to80% off Everything + 10% ofprofits donated
TARGET:Target Promo Code August2021 - $10 discount on youronline order
MACY'S:Save 20% on all orders withMacy's promo code
KOHL'S:30% off Kohl's coupon forRewards members
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE:20% off first order - Saks FifthAvenue promo code
PRETTYLITTLETHING:Shop with thisPrettyLittleThing coupon to get50% off
Is there a way for companies to monitor remote employees without alienating them?
Technology has made it possible for many people to work from home, but it also has madeit easier for employers to track their workers’ activity on company computer systems andmeasure their productivity.
Companies developing plans for remote and hybrid work in the wake of the Covid-19pandemic may see some value in that kind of monitoring to help maintain productivity. Butit also poses the danger of upsetting employees who resent being tracked and fear theconsequences.
A new study from researchers at the University of Virginia and the University of SouthernCalifornia offers some insight into employees’ thinking. It found that they are more willingto accept tracking, and may even welcome it, if the data that’s gathered is analyzed bytechnology instead of humans. The researchers say people tend to perceive technologicalanalysis as valuable information—something that can help them do their jobs better.Tracking that simply provides information to employees enhances their sense of autonomyand motivation and makes them less likely to quit, the researchers found.
But human judgment, whether it’s based on people’s observations or on their analysis ofdata delivered by machines, opens employees to criticism.
“Regardless of who that human is, the fact that there is a human who could be looking atyour data and interpreting something about you, that’s aversive to us, because we all wantto be seen in a good light and we’re worried and concerned about potential negativejudgment,” says Roshni Raveendhran, an assistant professor of business administration atthe University of Virginia and one of the authors of the study. “If there’s no humaninvolved, then people are open to using technological products to track very personalaspects of themselves,” she says.
Advertisement - Scroll to Continue
“If your boss was to keep looking at how long you were staring at a computer screen or howlong you were in a Word document, that would actually be super-aversive,” Dr.Raveendhran says. On the other hand, she says, “If I had a tool that told me, ‘I’ve beentracking you. You seem to be writing better at these times, you seem to not be productive atthose times of the day, this is when you should be taking a break,’ I’m not only going to bemore likely to comply, but I’m going to be excited about doing it and following that.”
The researchers conducted five experiments that solicited participants’ reaction to variousaspects of having their work activity tracked and analyzed. The participantsoverwhelmingly preferred technology-based analysis to human judgment.
Dr. Raveendhran says organizations should consider making tracking data more readilyavailable to employees to help them discover what steps they need to take to improve theirperformance.
“We have access to all kinds of tracking devices at the moment, and our companies areinvesting in these types of tracking technologies, so why not empower people to actuallylook at their own data?” she says. “Those reports can actually go to your employeesdirectly, where they can feel empowered to make decisions and take actions based on theirown behaviors because they trust the data that was tracking them.”
Mr. Bhattacharyya is a writer in Philadelphia. He can be reached at [email protected].
Appeared in the August 2, 2021, print edition as 'Why Workers Prefer Being Tracked by Machines, NotHumans.'
SHOW CONVERSATION (8)
Next in Journal Reports: Leadership
JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
When It Comes to ESG,Companies Often Find It Hardto Stand OutBy Rick Wartzman , and Kelly TangJuly 30, 2021 9:00 am ET
One reason: Various metrics are rolled up
into one number, making it hard to
differentiate.
More Journal Reports: Leadership Articles
JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
How Crunch FitnessStayed in Shape DuringCovid-19By Dan WeilJuly 30, 2021 6:00 am ET
JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
The Business Case forMore Fertility-RelatedBenefits and SupportBy Krystal Wilkinson , and Michael CarrollJuly 29, 2021 11:15 am ET
JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
Slack, Trello, MicrosoftTeams: Features to Lookfor in CollaborationSoftwareBy Alex, andra SamuelJuly 29, 2021 9:00 am ET
V I E W A L LV I E W A L L
ADVERTISEMENT
Paid Board Positions Across AllIndustriesBoardsi
Thinking About Downsizing?Charles Schwab
7 Retirement Income StrategiesOnce Your Portfolio Reaches$500kFisher Investments
Managing Early RetirementCharles Schwab
Top 12 Credit Cards That Can't BeBeat In 2021NerdWallet
Teaching Kids About MoneyCharles Schwab
SPONSORED OFFERS
College Rankings
Energy
Funds/ETFs
Health Care
Leadership
Retirement
Small Business
Technology
Wealth Management
Republican Congressional-Redistricting Edge Stops atWest Virginia’s Borders
Sending Smiley Emojis?They Now Mean DifferentThings to Different People
Zynga Will Need to BeatApple at Its Own Game
Gas Stations Face Tough,Costly Choice on EVChargers
Rand Araskog, CEO WhoDismantled ITT, Has Died atAge 89
Millions of Americans AreUnemployed Despite RecordJob Openings
WSJ News Exclusive |Progressive Opposition toJerome Powell Clouds HisChances for Second Term asFed Chairman
Pinterest Needs a StatusUpdate
Russia’s New Jet FighterAims to Rival U.S. in Air—and on Geopolitical Map
Andrew Cuomo Resigns asNew York’s Governor
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Dow Jones Products Barron's BigCharts Dow Jones Newswires Factiva Financial News Mansion Global MarketWatch Private Markets
Risk & Compliance WSJ Pro WSJ Video WSJ Wine
Privacy Notice Cookie Notice Do Not Sell My Personal Information Copyright Policy Data Policy Subscriber Agreement & Terms of Use Your Ad Choices
Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DJIA 35264.67 0.46% ▲ S&P 500 4436.75 0.10% ▲ Nasdaq 14788.09 0.49% ▼ U.S. 10 Yr -0/32 Yield 1.359% ▼ Crude Oil 68.52 0.34% ▲ Euro 1.1720 0.02% ▼
The Wall Street JournalSara Bamossy
English Edition Print Edition Video Podcasts Latest Headlines
BUSINESS | JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
Why Employees Prefer to Be Tracked by Machines Rather Than HumansTechnology lets bosses monitor workers’ productivity. But how they do it makes a big difference, a study found.
People tend to perceive tech-based analysis as valuable information.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
By Suman BhattacharyyaJuly 30, 2021 1:00 pm ET
Listen to article 3 minutes) Queue(
The Wall Street Journal Sign OutEnglish Edition
BACK TO TOP
«
SAVE PRINT TEXT 8
SHARE
Home World U.S. Politics Economy Business Tech Markets Opinion Life & Arts Real Estate WSJ. Magazine Sports Search