Issue #2: Surveillance at work/ Amazon/ AI and decision-making
Hello everybody!
I’m fairly excited about this issue because I found stories I find very important. They touch on the threats of digital surveillance in the workplace, tech-assisted decision-making, and the role of Amazon as a job creator. Regardless if you’re employed or your own boss, these are topics you should know about.
As this is only the second issue, I’d love to read comments from you. What type of stories do you enjoy reading most? Longer ones? Shorter ones? Do you want more or fewer images? Which topics are most intriguing to you? Author Malcolm Gladwell recently said: “The only way you can develop your ideas is if you have a crowd, and it's that kind of conversation that is at the heart of every intellectual revolution.” I’m looking forward to those conversations!
In case you know anybody who might be interested in “Jobs Meet Tech,” feel free to share this newsletter.
Best,
Alice
Desk sensors and office screenings: Health precautions or surveillance through the backdoor?
With the Covid-19 vaccination campaigns advancing in many countries, the desire for traditional work is growing again. A rebound effect from remote work to office work was to be expected. Leaders prefer their employees close, teams might notice higher loyalty and trust when working face-to-face, and probably most remote workers have experienced Zoom fatigue at some point.
Going back to the office means waking up earlier, exchanging sweatpants for more formal business attire, and commuting to the more cramped and lively areas of your city.
But this time, a hint of surveillance might accompany the return to the office. According to Reuters, Neil Murray, CEO of corporate solutions at JLL, explains that companies will heavily rely on technology to avoid office spaces becoming too full.
JLL manages offices. Many banks like JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are among their clients. They will implement desk-booking apps to avoid crowded spaces that might lead to new Covid infections. Murray says: “We have to be more mindful about how space is being used and when it is being used.” So far, so good.
However, Murray adds that some of his clients are considering installing desk sensors and camera systems that analyze how many people are in a room. These technologies allow for better contact tracing, yet to employees, they can feel invasive. Asked about the tracking systems, bank workers are reserved.
With new Covid variants emerging and affecting millions of people across the globe, the pandemic is yet far from ending. Since its outbreak, countless technology-based solutions like tracing apps have helped citizens to reduce the risk of contracting Covid.
Installing cameras to detect the presence of teams might cross a line and normalize inappropriate monitoring methods. Under the pretense of health concerns, workers could gradually accept and grow accustomed to systems tracking them.
This trend is not new. Trade unions and think tanks like the Institute of the Future of Work have been alarmed about the increased rate of employee tracking. Especially in low-paid jobs like warehouse workers and delivery drivers, algorithms measure how efficiently employees fulfill their tasks. PwC developed a sensor that would measure if an employee was at his or her desk, and Fujitsu created an AI tool that would read facial muscle movements to determine the concentration level.
The British cybersecurity expert Brian Honan illustrates the dilemma for companies:
“Companies do have a duty of care to protect their business and they do have a legitimate interest in ensuring their business interests are taken care of, but they have to be balanced against the rights of the individual in the workplace.”
He believes that many monitoring measures could be classified as illegal under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But beyond the potential regulation issues, Honan stresses that a work environment dominated by monitoring is unlikely to foster productive outcomes.
Hate it or love it: Amazon sets the tone for the future of work
Amazon is one of the greatest winners of the Covid pandemic. A leader in retail in many countries, Amazon strengthened its position even more in 2020. Revenue soared by 38 percent, net profit increased by 84 percent. The company’s luxurious position makes it one of the defining leaders for the future of work.
Amazon proves how a data-driven retail platform can create jobs. In the middle of May, the corporation announced that it would create 75,000 jobs in the US and Canada and 10,000 jobs in the UK. By hiring dozens of thousands of logistics workers during the pandemic, Amazon manifests its role as a job market force. Only last year, the corporation hired 500,000 (!) workers.
Moreover, the company is an example of how the role of technology shapes the future of work. Let’s take a closer look at a few examples from Amazon’s work cosmos.
The difficult struggle
Amazon has been under scrutiny for its treatment of warehouse workers and drivers. The Atlantic discovered that high stress and pressure for high pace in the logistics centers leads to many workers suffering injuries. Warehouse employees with little protection of their worker’s rights are reported to end up unemployed after getting an injury.
The Business Insider presents in a collection of Amazon tracking tools the Netradyne Driveri system. The system recognizes if a driver passes speed limits, looks away, or yawns to increase safety. At least one driver quit over this perceived invasion of privacy.
Following criticism over a high (and possibly disguised) injury rate, Amazon decided to roll out the WorkWell program, CNBC reports. The goal is noble: Amazon wants to reduce its injury rate by 50 percent by 2025. Piloted in 2019, the WorkWell program includes interactive videos for warehouse workers to teach them the right handles and motions. Inexperienced employees have the highest risk of injuries. Regular reminders to stretch and become physically active shall prevent routine-related pain. And at “AmaZen” kiosks, meditation and mindfulness videos and exercises will be available to workers.
While the WorkWell program sparked critical remarks about the necessity to decrease stress and pressure on workers instead of introducing a wellness program, Amazon’s $300m health investment might pay off.
“Fifty percent is doable. There have been lots of organizations that have been able to do it. It is a focus issue and has to be a value in that company,”
says Deborah Roy, president of the American Society of Safety Professionals.
While it might be a cynical experiment, the WorkWell program will be crucial for other companies. Amazon’s experience will show if technology-aided tools can significantly increase health (and performance).
The good fight
Amazon is not only the poster child of the modern working conditions of warehouse employees. It’s an example of the power of valuable tech workers.
The Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) initiative is an interesting example of how influential tech workers can exercise power. In 2019, 7,500 workers pushed for a climate change plan. While their proposal didn’t pass, their actions have inspired many other tech workers in major corporations to start similar movements.
In a new attempt to fight for the environment, 640 workers signed a petition demanding Amazon to reduce its pollution to zero by 2030. The petition, in particular, criticizes the pollution occurring in the areas predominantly inhabited by people of color.
Researchers have suggested that air pollution caused by industrial omission and traffic disproportionately affects poor communities, predominantly non-white. The effects of air pollution in such areas might have contributed to the relatively high share of people of color dying from Covid-19.
Amazon is trying to increase its commitment to environmental measures and promised to be CO2 neutral by 2040.
The disappointing incident
What is painfully obvious in the work conditions and employee treatment is what MIT labor economist David Autor calls “polarization of job opportunities.”
Technological change contributes to an increased value of tech experts and a shrinking amount of chances for low-skilled workers in the US economy. Amazon’s ecosystem illustrates fairly well: While tech experts not only earn a lot more money but enjoy convenient work conditions, warehouse workers struggle with tracking systems and job insecurity. They can sense that they are replaceable.
This is the reason why warehouse workers contacted AEJC, which mainly consists of employees with convenient positions. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Amazon workers across the globe felt unprotected and frightened. AEJC leaders Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa decided to take action and raise awareness - and got immediately fired. Amazon Web Services engineer Tim Bray resigned from his position in the wake of this decision and documented his observations, believing that several women and people of color got fired to install fear among more vulnerable groups.
Amazon faced harsh criticism after the incident. Yet, its treatment of workers again sent a signal to other companies: As a leading global corporation, you can afford to let go of talented people. There will always be enough applicants who would immediately take their place.
AI & the future of work: Who are the experts the EU listens to?
AI is likely to disrupt the labor market profoundly. Naturally, policymakers need to prepare for this scenario. The EU has an overly cautious and bureaucratic reputation, and many citizens don’t know who influences debates.
Obviously, decision-making and legislation are highly complex, and many opinions flow into the process. On Tuesday, the committees on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age, Employment and Social Affairs, and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality held a joint public hearing. Hearings are a tool to engage with experts and citizens on specific subjects. They help MPs to create more realistic bills.
Tuesday’s meeting is a good example of how exchange on the EU level works. The policymakers wanted to learn about the effects of AI on the labor market, and these are the people they invited:
Panel 1: Artificial Intelligence - Challenges and opportunities for the labor market
Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights (Luxemburg)
Dr. Christina J. Colclough, Founder of the Why Not Lab (a consultancy for digital labor rights)
Irene Mandl, Head of the Employment Unit at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
Valerio De Stefano, Research Professor of Labour Law at KU Leuven
Panel 2: Artificial intelligence and the future of skills
Ivana Bartoletti, author of An Artificial Revolution, editor of The AI Book
Christos Tarantilis, Professor of the Athens University of Economics and Business, and MP of the Greek parliament
Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, Public Policy Director EMEA at Workday (a cloud-based system for finance, HR, and planning)
Catelijne Muller, President of ALLAI (an organization for responsible development, deployment, and use of AI)
Undoubtedly, the experts at the hearing are all experienced and bring valuable insights from the angles of business, politics, and ethics into the debate. Yet, the voices of AI engineers and computer science professors were missing at this hearing. If you’re interested in the debates, you can watch the recording HERE.
Tech-assisted decision-making: Deutsche Bahn rolls out an AI assistant to make trains more punctual
The German rail company Deutsche Bahn has been working on new tools to improve its service. The internal “House of AI” is the source for many innovations. Deutsche Bahn manager Sabina Jeschke explained in an interview with Handelsblatt that a new AI assistant would help dispatchers make better decisions.
Germany’s rail network is highly complex and fairly busy. Dispatchers make decisions that affect the traffic flow. They must plan and adjust the course of trains to avoid delays and reschedule trains in case of disturbances. Naturally, people make mistakes. In 2018, every fourth train was delayed. Therefore, Deutsche Bahn rolls out a new AI assistant. According to Jeschke, the system analyzes the best scenarios:
“The system simulates various scenarios and visualizes them on a kind of video film that can be fast-forwarded and rewound. The AI then derives recommendations for action from this. However, it is the human being who decides what to do.”
First tests already show promising results. The AI assistant could pave the way for professional tech-assisted decision-making in complex and stressful environments. Jeschke sees great potential in the system, but she admits that progress can be a hard pill to swallow:
“The greater challenge is the change in thinking. You have to accept that in certain situations, artificial intelligence can assess a critical situation better than a dispatcher.”
The right to disconnect: Workers in Ireland are officially allowed to disengage
The pandemic has pushed countless employees to remote work. Trade unions have been alarmed about the downsides of this trend: While remote work had positive effects like less commuting time, many people found themselves in seemingly never-ending workdays and constant electronic communication. In an interview with IPS Journal, Patricia King, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Union, explains the challenges of remote work:
“We suddenly have many people routinely working from home. It is much more difficult to have the start and finish time stipulation because people are not actually leaving a place of work. They work from home all day and employers might contact them all the time. People were expected to work past their normal working hours without receiving any compensation for it.”
As of April, a new code of practice assures that Irish employees are allowed to disconnect from all electronic devices.
Number of the week: 12,5 km/h
In the German city of Karlsruhe, three autonomous mini-buses are the newest members of public transport. The Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is running a trial with the so-called eva shuttles. Karlsruhe’s citizens can order a shuttle via an app and send it to any place within the testing area. However, these autonomous buses are not really fast. They are programmed to reach a maximum of 20 km/h but practically drive at the relaxed pace of 12,5 km/h. The shuttles are not killing jobs (yet). They might be driving autonomously, but for security reasons, a driver is present at all times. Karlsruhe’s citizens are curious. In the first month, 500 people used the eva shuttles for 300 rides.
Recommendation of the week: AI thought leader Kenza Ait Si Abbou on the future of work
Kenza Ait Si Abbou knows how technology can shake up the labor market. As Deutsche Telekom’s Senior Manager Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, she is familiar with AI’s potential to reduce jobs. However, the AI expert calls for better education and more understanding of the irreplaceable capabilities humans have. From the industrial revolution to emotional intelligence, watch Kenza Ait Si Abbou explain why an AI utopia could actually become a reality on this LINK.
Headlines you shouldn’t miss
FORBES The Future Of Work Now: Ethical AI At Salesforce: AI can be harmful if not deployed carefully. Salesforce is helping its clients to implement ethical AI criteria in their businesses.
LIVEMINT Tech needs to be leveraged to shape the hybrid work model: Indian business leaders agree that the world is moving towards an ‘Internet first’ paradigm. Infrastructure is the most important aspect to allow companies to work digitally.
BOSTONREVIEW AI’s Future Doesn’t Have to Be Dystopian: Economist Daron Acemoglu sees AI as a vehicle for prosperity and job creation if given a chance. Various experts reply to his optimistic view.
TECHRADAR We use smart technology at home – why not at work? Smart devices controlling light, temperature, and security are becoming increasingly popular in homes across the world. TechRadar writer Laurent Bataille sees smart devices as a solution to sustainable and more pleasant workspaces - yet few businesses adopt them.
TECHCRUNCH How Expensify shed Silicon Valley arrogance to realize its global ambitions: Expense management company Expensify worked remotely pre-Covid. The key to making it work lies in their recruiting choices, paid ‘workation,’ and good salaries.