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Technology has made it possible for many people to work from home, but it also has made it easier for employers to track their workers’ activity on company computer systems and measure their productivity. Companies developing plans for remote and hybrid work in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic may see some value in that kind of monitoring to help maintain productivity. But it also poses the danger of upsetting employees who resent being tracked and fear the consequences. A new study from researchers at the University of Virginia and the University of Southern California offers some insight into employees’ thinking. It found that they are more willing to accept tracking, and may even welcome it, if the data that’s gathered is analyzed by technology instead of humans. The researchers say people tend to perceive technological analysis as valuable information—something that can help them do their jobs better. Tracking that simply provides information to employees enhances their sense of autonomy and motivation and makes them less likely to quit, the researchers found. But human judgment, whether it’s based on people’s observations or on their analysis of data delivered by machines, opens employees to criticism. “Regardless of who that human is, the fact that there is a human who could be looking at your data and interpreting something about you, that’s aversive to us, because we all want to be seen in a good light and we’re worried and concerned about potential negative judgment,” says Roshni Raveendhran, an assistant professor of business administration at the University of Virginia and one of the authors of the study. “If there’s no human involved, then people are open to using technological products to track very personal aspects of themselves,” she says. Advertisement - Scroll to Continue “If your boss was to keep looking at how long you were staring at a computer screen or how long you were in a Word document, that would actually be super-aversive,” Dr. Raveendhran says. On the other hand, she says, “If I had a tool that told me, ‘I’ve been tracking you. You seem to be writing better at these times, you seem to not be productive at those times of the day, this is when you should be taking a break,’ I’m not only going to be more likely to comply, but I’m going to be excited about doing it and following that.” The researchers conducted five experiments that solicited participants’ reaction to various aspects of having their work activity tracked and analyzed. The participants overwhelmingly preferred technology-based analysis to human judgment. Dr. Raveendhran says organizations should consider making tracking data more readily available to employees to help them discover what steps they need to take to improve their performance. “We have access to all kinds of tracking devices at the moment, and our companies are investing in these types of tracking technologies, so why not empower people to actually look at their own data?” she says. “Those reports can actually go to your employees directly, where they can feel empowered to make decisions and take actions based on their own behaviors because they trust the data that was tracking them.” Mr. Bhattacharyya is a writer in Philadelphia. He can be reached at [email protected] . Appeared in the August 2, 2021, print edition as 'Why Workers Prefer Being Tracked by Machines, Not Humans.' 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DJIA 35264.67 0.46% ▲ S&P 500 4436.75 0.10% ▲ Nasdaq 14788.09 0.49% ▼ U.S. 10 Yr -0/32 Yield 1.359% ▼ Crude Oil 68.52 0.34% ▲ Euro 1.1720 0.02% ▼ Sara Bamossy English Edition Print Edition Video Podcasts Latest Headlines BUSINESS | JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP Why Employees Prefer to Be Tracked by Machines Rather Than Humans Technology lets bosses monitor workers’ productivity. But how they do it makes a big difference, a study found. People tend to perceive tech-based analysis as valuable information. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO By Suman Bhattacharyya July 30, 2021 1:00 pm ET Listen to article 3 minutes) Queue ( T Sign Out English Edition BACK TO TOP « SAVE PRINT TEXT 8 SHARE Home World U.S. Politics Economy Business Tech Markets Opinion Life & Arts Real Estate WSJ. Magazine Sports Search