Challenging Worker Datafication

Digital technologies have enabled unprecedented expansion in the volume and kinds of data collected about workers. Today, employers amass data from technologies such as wearables, mobile apps, computer software, and other surveillance tools but also through simple, low-tech methods such as self-reporting information on a paper form. The ability to analyze large datasets enables employers to make broad and at times speculative inferences about workers’ productivity, their future behavior, their interactions with other people and machines, and more.