In the modern workplace, technology – such as AI, surveillance systems, wearables and sensors – offers powerful tools to boost efficiency, enhance decision-making, and streamline operations. From monitoring workflows, assessing risks, and analysing employee productivity, these tools have the potential to transform workplaces.
However, used indiscriminately, they can create significant challenges, particularly when organisations begin to treat their employees like robots rather than humans.
While technology can be an asset, over-reliance or misuse of it can introduce psychosocial hazards, increase injury risks, and erode workplace culture. The key lies in how organisations harness these tools: using data not to micromanage but to design better jobs, improve processes, and inform workplace health and safety strategies. Here’s why a balanced approach matters.
The risks of treating employees like machines
Psychosocial hazards
When technology is used to monitor employees too closely – tracking keystrokes, timing breaks, or logging every moment of inactivity – it can create an environment of distrust and stress. This hyper-surveillance can:
- Erode autonomy, making employees feel micromanaged and undervalued.
- Increase anxiety about performance, leading to burnout.
- Create a toxic culture where employees feel their contributions are reduced to data points.
Injury risks
Over-automation and reliance on AI can unintentionally drive unrealistic expectations. When systems prioritise speed and efficiency without considering human limits, workers may:
- Push beyond their physical capabilities to meet targets.
- Neglect proper ergonomic practices or safety protocols to save time.
- Suffer injuries from repetitive tasks designed with productivity in mind, rather than worker wellbeing.
Workplace culture erosion
A workplace dominated by surveillance can feel cold and impersonal. Trust is a cornerstone of any strong workplace culture, and excessive monitoring can:
- Undermine employee morale and engagement.
- Lead to high turnover rates, as workers seek more supportive environments.
- Damage the organisation’s reputation as a desirable employe
A better approach: Using technology to empower, not control
Improving work design
Data collected through AI, wearables, and surveillance systems can be a goldmine – not for monitoring individuals but for improving work processes. Insights from technology can help organisations:
- Identify bottlenecks in workflows.
- Pinpoint repetitive or physically demanding tasks that could benefit from redesign or automation.
- Create roles that are both efficient and supportive of employee wellbeing.
Refining recruitment processes
Instead of using AI to monitor current employees excessively, organisations can use it to make smarter hiring decisions. Data-driven recruitment strategies can:
- Identify candidates with the skills and attributes best suited to the job.
- Reduce the likelihood of placing individuals in roles that are physically or psychologically unsuitable.
- Foster long-term retention by ensuring a better fit between employees and their roles.
Building a human-centric culture
Technology can also support workplace culture by being used transparently and collaboratively. For example:
- Sharing insights from data collection with employees and involving them in problem-solving.
- Using AI to suggest ergonomic improvements or streamline workflows that benefit everyone.
- Ensuring technology enhances, rather than replaces, human judgement in decision-making.
Our data has clearly shown that these productivity monitoring tools do not lead to better performance. They are counterproductive for the organizations that use them.
The takeaway: humans over machines
Technology in the workplace is a tool – not a replacement for human connection, creativity, or empathy. When organisations treat employees as mere cogs in a machine, they risk creating environments where psychosocial hazards, injuries, and poor culture flourish.
The better path is to use technology thoughtfully: to design safer, more efficient roles, refine recruitment, and foster a culture of trust and collaboration. In doing so, organisations can unlock both productivity and employee satisfaction – not by treating people like robots, but by respecting and supporting them as humans.
By using technology with caution and purpose, organisations can achieve the best of both worlds: thriving employees and thriving businesses.