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The team
Dr Carolyn [email protected] Lecturer, Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School
As a work psychologist I am interested in how organisations can enhance employee wellbeing and reduce stress amongst the workforce. In particular, I am interested in how new technologies influence people’s working lives such as increasing work intensification and blurring the boundary between work and non-work. Whilst there are advantages to being able to work ‘anytime’, ‘anywhere’, there is also the danger of ‘never switching off’ and not taking enough time to recharge our batteries. My interest in the DEW project is in how we might be able to manage employee wellbeing more effectively in the age of digitisation.
Dr Christine [email protected], Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School
My research interests are in the areas of work-related bullying, incivility, cyberbullying, and employee wellbeing more generally. Since being at the University and in my previous role at HSE, I have led a range of research projects within applied settings and I am now keen to explore the potential that organisational data (and Big Data) might have for identifying wellbeing risks associated with work. I am interested in how such data might help the development of interventions to improve the psychological health outcomes for employees with ever increasing demands on them.
Professor Bridgette [email protected] of Sociology, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University
My area of research focuses on the relationship between innovations in digital technology and social change. The combination of changes in working patterns and practices in the digital age and the rise of big data creates a range of issues. Although big data has the potential to create insights into social behaviours, practices and attitudes there are also a range of concerns about what the data refers to and how it can be used. My interest as a sociologist is about how these changes interact with and affect employees. In relation to the DEW project, I am keen to understand employee perspectives regarding the use of big data in organisational wellbeing strategies and programmes.
Professor Stephen [email protected] of Information Services Management, Information School, University of Sheffield
As a researcher I am interested in the intersection between technology deployment, organisational policy development, and cultural practices. Before entering academia I was a practising information professional, working in library and IT services for 23 years, latterly as Chief Information Officer at the University of Nottingham. My interest in the DEW project stems from my work both as a practitioner and academic. I am interested in the technical possibilities and also the governance challenges of the management of corporate data. My experience of the way technology services providers in organisations work in practice means that I can contribute some insight into the opportunities and challenges that information and technology providers in real-world situations have.
Dr Mark [email protected] Lecturer, School of Law, University of Sheffield
As a health information lawyer, with particular interest in data protection and the law of confidence, I am keen to explore the implications of the governance of personal data for individual and public health and well-being. The DEW seminar series demonstrates the potential significance of an increasingly diverse range of data, collected in an employment context, for health prediction and alerting. It provides an opportunity to challenge the legal framework to not only protect an individual’s reasonable expectations of privacy but to also enable those uses of data consistent with responsible work-place monitoring.
www.dew.group.shef.ac.uk
Data and Employee Wellbeing (DEW)
The cost of poor employee wellbeing for individuals, organisations and society is significant. In the UK, 11.7 million working days were lost to work related stress, depression or anxiety in 2015/16 according to a recent Labour Force Survey (HSE, 20161). This can have a negative impact on productivity and can put additional strain on the health service. Assessing and reducing such risks is therefore important at many levels. One way organisations can assess employee wellbeing is by using regular staff surveys, perhaps annually or biannually. However, whilst such methods may provide a snap-shot in time, wellbeing concerns may be highlighted too late, once damage has already been done. Being able to predict and prevent problems in advance would be a great advantage.
combined could indicate risk of ill-health and poor wellbeing due to physical and psychological strain and lack of recovery from work. Moreover, findings from such analysis could help us to develop an improved understanding of employee wellbeing processes.
However, there are ethical and legal concerns with the use of such data, and so this area needs to be critically considered from different disciplinary perspectives. The seminar series has therefore brought together a multidisciplinary network of academics from the fields of Work Psychology, Sociology, Information Science and Law, alongside organisational representatives, employee and professional
The DEW seminar series was funded by the ESRC and supported by the University of Sheffield’s Digital Society Network (UoS). Aiming to critically explore the possibilities of Big Data in assessing health and wellbeing risks within organisations and for advancing knowledge on health and wellbeing prediction, the series has explored the potential to use the vast amounts of data gathered within organisations (such as from network traffic data, use of specific work-based systems, phone calls, emails, web access, and HR systems) to assess health and wellbeing risks in real time, so that early intervention can be applied. For instance, organisational or departmental data that indicates high levels of work intensification, insufficient breaks or holidays from work or too much time spent at the computer screen, when
groups, and policy makers to investigate and debate the possibilities, benefits and difficulties of using Big Data for employee wellbeing purposes and to set the research agenda going forward.
1HSE 2016: Work related stress, anxiety and depression statistics in Great Britain 2016. www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress
Our mission is to critically explore the potential of using Big Data for identifying and predicting employee wellbeing problems, so that early intervention and prevention can be achieved.
There is a positive utopian vision for how Big Data could be used for promoting employee wellbeing and preventing ill-health. If we enter into the spirit of co-design and co-ownership then data can be shared in a climate of openness and trust, where there is a culture of care and support. In this vision, employees can have access to their own data, which is of use to them personally, and the organisation can take responsibility for improving damaging processes and demands where aggregate and combined data indicate a problem for employees.
However, there is a dystopian version which warns of the potential dangers. If such data is used in a culture where there is lack of trust and openness, where the organisation alone has ownership and where the data analysis is driven purely by the organisational agenda, then this can create a ‘Big Brother’ state. If employees do not have fully informed consent and are passive agents within the system with no access to the data and lack of clarity about what the data is being used
What has become clear as we have progressed through the seminar series is that the data cannot be the only indicator we rely on. There is a need for ‘bottom up’ involvement of academics, practitioners and employees in helping to interpret the meaning of the data in a qualitative manner. In some senses with Big Data, we might need qualitative interpretations even more. There has to be individual/employee involvement and action – not just ‘consent’. From an ethical perspective consent needs to be ‘informed’ and so agreeing ‘what’ data and ‘how’ it will be used is paramount. Thus, the policy and principles of data use and the resulting interventions need to be co-designed with employees. Data analysis is not ‘done to’ the employees, but ‘with’ employees. In this way there can be joint organisational and individual responsibility for employee wellbeing. There are of course the challenges of gaining access to the data and of analysing/processing such large amounts of data, although there is a lot of data that is already collected by organisations and could be used.
for, then this is not a desirable situation. If the organisation has all the power and pushes responsibility to the employees to cope better/become healthier and doesn’t take any responsibility for improving damaging processes and demands, then this can create a climate of fear and poor wellbeing. What if this data is used to get rid of people who are not considered ‘healthy’? What if data is used for decisions without fully understanding the meanings that underlay it? If data is used in unethical ways then it will detract from employee wellbeing rather than protect and support employees. Thus, this dystopian vision is to be avoided at all costs.
What next?Seminar Six: Lessons Learned and Development of Research Agenda
We will be setting the research agenda for future work within this area. Key questions are:
• How do we move towards the utopian vision for using data for enhancing wellbeing?
• What else do we need to know before we can start examining and predicting employee wellbeing from organisational data?
• How can we ensure that Big Data is used for ‘good’?
Possible research projects might include:
• Development of co-designed principles/code of conduct relating to using Big Data for protecting employee wellbeing
• Case study examples of using data to examine employee wellbeing
• Developing a depository of information and guidelines about using Big Data within organisations
Be part of itWe are looking for academics, policy makers and organisational representatives to be part of our advisory board or partners in research going forward.
Our website will continue to provide updates of projects arising from the networks and collaborations that have been facilitated. Visit www.dew.group.shef.ac.uk
If you would like to get involved in any of the research or just find out more about what we are doing, get in touch with us (contact details overleaf).
Seminar One: Examining the relationship between IT working practises and ill healthThis seminar found that work intensification, isolation and lack of activity, such as working extended hours, not taking sufficient breaks from the computer, working remotely from others for long periods and not switching locations, all contributed towards an unhealthy work environment. Potential indicators included log-in data, absence data, sleep data, email traffic data and location data, though the need for qualitative understandings of the data was acknowledged.
Seminar Two: Indicators of Wellbeing and their Measurement/AnalysisThe focus of this seminar looked at the importance of individual preferences and interpretations, and the role of context when measuring and analysing wellbeing. It identified the need to combine objective and subjective data, and considered statistical considerations. Whilst there are possibilities to analyse objective data, this needs to be complemented with further qualitative analysis.
Seminar Three: What Data and How?A variety of perspectives on the current opportunities and challenges when collecting and using digital data were examined in this seminar, exploring how digital data can be mined to find indicators that may be effective in signalling employee health. Key technical solutions and techniques, data governance structures and processes were all highlighted as areas of importance.
Seminar Four: Employee PerspectivesThis seminar assessed issues related to employee surveillance and individual ownership of data as well as more critical perspectives on the need for an individual perspective on wellbeing that complements a more data driven approach. The need to develop a framework for understanding how to use big data in work contexts was explored, as was the need to involve employees in co-developing and designing big data wellbeing programmes.
Seminar Five: The Benefits and Disbenefits of monitoring digital data for health purposesFocusing on legal perspectives, this seminar revealed that the law currently offers little protection to employees from unfair or unwanted surveillance. Employee data can be used as long as they are notified and it can be justified as either collected with consent or necessary to relevant business function. A Code might be developed in this area, as the product of co-design and co-production by both employees and employers, to ensure fair and lawful monitoring.
Materials from the seminars are available on our website, visit www.dew.group.shef.ac.uk
Overview of seminars held so far Emerging themes from the seminar series
