Human Resources Trend Report: Ethics in Ongoing Technology Change
The Development of Human Resources Management
Workplace Hazard in the Beginning of Industrialization
Industrial Revolution (1712- 1942) can be referred to as the transition of a self-sufficient society to a manufacturing one. It began in the late 18th century with the rapid development of new technology and inventions introduced into the industrial sector. With its commencement, the products became cheaper and the production processes within numerous industries increased ultimately facilitating better production. Before Industrial Revolution, a majority of industrial processes were executed through the utilization of human labor and animals. However, the Industrial Revolution replaced human labor with machines progressively paving way for the factory system. The new manufacturing system not only improved production but also changed the employment trends due to the increasingly unsafe working environment.
In the beginning of industrial revolution, as the demand for more production led to the rise in demand for workers, the factories hired many workers to operate the machines and treated them as possession of the factories. Workers, including males, females and children, were claimed to work 12- 14 hours a day with low wages, and the employers would force children to crawl into dangerous machinery which caused many accidents. In1833, up to 40 percent of accidents at Manchester Infirmary were factory accidents (BBC, 2017). In addition, figure 1 depicts that the influenza and Pneumonia, which is a lung infection, were the leading cause of death in the era of industrialization. In that period of time, because of the exhaust gas of factories, the air was full of dust that led to lung and chest diseases.
The Beginning of New Human Resource Practices
Industrial Revolution was, without a doubt, an important turning point in the human resources history. The employers started engaging in improving job satisfaction since industrialization brought chemical hazards and diseases into the workplace. A lot of employers came to realize that the employee satisfaction profoundly influenced the productivity and performance. Figure 2 shows that organizations with a high level of engagement level demonstrate 22% higher productivity and 48% fewer (unexpected) work-related accidents. Satisfied workers were more efficient and could produce more products as compared to displeased workers.
Elsevier, a website that provides analytics and information for institutions and professionals to further their research, published a human resources management review mentioning that a factory owner named Robert Owens reformed the employment relationships and developed “welfare to work” systems in the period of industrialization. These systems were aimed at improving both social and working conditions. They did so by negating the idea of employing young children and providing company housing, health insurance, and other benefits to workers (Deadrick). Prior to the discussed revolution, workers worked at autarky villages and were not controlled by the employers because there were no factories and no demand for mass production. Due to the less number of workers, there was no need to manage them. On the contrary, the emergence of factories and manufacturing made people move from domestic employment to factories. However, the same trend also raised the issue of workplace hazard and created the demand of supervising and controlling the workers (Dulebohn et al.). Therefore, the organizations started to employ workers after the Industrial Revolution and gave them welfare as well as permanent wage to keep them away from danger. All such measures increased the job satisfaction among workers (Deadrick). In fact, the mentioned practices set the stage for many employee welfare schemes that are also used to attract, retain, and motivate employees in the present times as well.
The Ethnic Issue of Technology Arises
Nowadays, technology is not limited to manufacturing anymore; thanks to advances in technology! Technology allows human resources professionals to network through online means and to monitor and improve employees’ health. In fact, technological advancements blur the boundaries between private and professional lives. However, the development of technology has been growing so fast that it has become rather complicated for human resources professionals to determine how to ensure employer and worker privacy and security at the workplace.
The Growth of Wearable Technology Market
Business Insider forecasts that the global shipment numbers of wearable technology will grow at a compound annual rate of 25% over a period of 5 years and will reach 162.9 million units in 2020 (as shown in Figure 3) (Business Insider). Today, the number of people using wearable technology devices is growing rapidly as compared to the number of people who were using such devices 5 years ago. With the growth of wearable technology market, it is anticipated that it will certainly become a major technology trend in the future.
While the wearable devices market continues to evolve, business applications for wearable devices will also grow. Based on a study from the ABI Research, a company that provides business intelligence and execute strategies to business leaders, it was concluded that the market for wearable will become so popular over the next 5 years that more than 13 million wearable devices will be integrated into human resource wellness plans. As a consequence, it will significantly improve employee health management in the businesses. Therefore, more and more companies are using wearable technology devices as a distinctive part of their human resources strategy to manage employee wellness and workplace safety.
The Advantages of Using Wearable Devices for Employees
Wearable technology including smart watches, smart glasses, smart clothing, and fitness trackers improves employee wellness by assisting them to remain aware of their health conditions at all times. In fact, said technology motivates them to abandon unhealthy behaviors such as smoking. Figure 4 shows the functions and advantages of wearable devices. For example, muscle activity can be measured with an electromyographic sensor embedded into clothing. Similarly, heart rate can be monitored via an oximeter in a ring. Also, sleep patterns or physical activities can be checked with an accelerometer incorporated into smart watches. With such helpful functionalities, employees are allowed to monitor their exercise levels and sleep activities as heart rates can be traced via different wearable devices in order to take more control of their medical decisions. Moreover, they can make their more well-informed decisions about their working pace and break schedules by obtaining health information through wearable devices. For instance, if an employee finds himself/herself with an elevated heart rate, he/she would stop exercising or slow down his/her working pace.
Companies’ Benefits of Supplying Employees with Wearable Devices
Sierra-Cedar, a human resource technology consulting firm, measured that the number of employees using wearable technology (as part of a human resource strategy) has increased by 30%. It also found that 55% of companies using wearable devices as human resource tools have developed better workforce productivity. Wearable devices not only let employees to monitor their health, they also allow employers to track employees’ location via GPS helping in increasing productivity. This is because healthy employees take fewer sick leaves. Consequently, employees have more days to work and are able to exhibit more productivity. According to a study published by American College of Sports Medicine, workers who spent 30-60 minutes at lunch exercising reported an average performance increase by 15% (Holemes).
In addition, maintaining employee’s health can also decrease the corporate insurance rates through locating employees. It needs to be mentioned that it is one of the primary functions built into the wearable devices. By tracking an employee location, companies can keep a check on the times an employee leaves his/her desk to have a smoking break. Ultimately, it can devise an appropriate ‘Smoking Cessation Program’ for employees who frequently leave their desks to reduce their potential risk of lung cancer. Cloud computing provider, Appirio, has reported that such wellness programs have the tendency of declining the corporate insurance rate by 5% (Hamblen).
Wearable Devices: Privacy and Security Concerns
Although the wearable technology devices make both the companies and workers perform better, there are some privacy issues associated with them. The location and health data from wearable devices is potentially insecure because a GPS or a Cloud (providing shared computer processing resources to other devices) could be used to track a person’s private information (as stated by EPIC – Electronic Privacy Information Center). The wearable devices reveal excessive employee personal data making it impossible for people to know who can access their private information. Figure 5 shows that the probability of private information being stolen through cyber theft is extremely high. Among all the 9 vectors, cyber threats and incidents and data loss or theft are the two most likely to occur.
According to a publication by a law firm, LAW360, there has been an increase in the athlete privacy issues in MLB wearable tech experiment. Two months ago, the Whoop wrist-worn biometric devices (designed for athletes to monitor their heart rate to the amount of sleep) was allowed by MLB to be the first devices worn by the baseball players during games. Athletes who wore the mentioned biometric devices have been shown to drink less alcohol, get more sleep, and report fewer injuries. In fact, they wanted to wear the device voluntarily to better understand their bodies. Athletes and coaches can use the data obtained from the devices to optimize the training by ensuring there is proper balance between training, rest, and recovery (Zagger).
Even though the discussed devices improve athlete performance and health, they also create privacy concerns as it is not clear whether the players have the right to control the data or not. According to Bradley Shear, a private attorney who worked for NFL Players Association, “If the CIA and the National Security Agency can’t keep their data safe, I found it very hard to believe that Whoop or the entity that is collecting all of this personal data is going to be able to protect it any better” (). It needs to be understood that the health data is just like a honey pot for gamblers and opponent teams. It is because gamblers need the data to determine which players they are betting on in order to win the money. On the other hand, the enemy teams need the data to know the players’ weaknesses for winning the games. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent people from stealing the health data. The authorities need to realize that the issue of privacy will only become more significant with the explosion of data from wearable devices.