Workers' Health under Algorithmic Management: Emerging Findings and Urgent Research Questions

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 20; no. 2; p. 1239
• Main Authors: Vignola, Emilia F, Baron, Sherry, Abreu Plasencia, Elizabeth, Hussein, Mustafa, Cohen, Nevin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 10.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Algorithms; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Effects; Employment; Fairness; Food; Gig economy; Health disparities; Health research; Human technology relationship; Human-computer interaction; Humans; Income; Independent contractors; Interpersonal Relations; Literature reviews; Management; Meals; Medical research; Medical technology; Occupational Health; Occupational safety; Occupational stress; Public health; Restaurants; Review; Security; Social behavior; Sociology; Well being; Workers; Workforce; Working conditions; Workload; United States > US; New York City New York; work stress; algorithmic management; worker health; gig economy; platform work
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20021239

Algorithms are increasingly used instead of humans to perform core management functions, yet public health research on the implications of this phenomenon for worker health and well-being has not kept pace with these changing work arrangements. Algorithmic management has the potential to influence several dimensions of job quality with known links to worker health, including workload, income security, task significance, schedule stability, socioemotional rewards, interpersonal relations, decision authority, and organizational trust. To describe the ways algorithmic management may influence workers' health, this review summarizes available literature from public health, sociology, management science, and human-computer interaction studies, highlighting the dimensions of job quality associated with work stress and occupational safety. We focus on the example of work for platform-based food and grocery delivery companies; these businesses are growing rapidly worldwide and their effects on workers and policies to address those effects have received significant attention. We conclude with a discussion of research challenges and needs, with the goal of understanding and addressing the effects of this increasingly used technology on worker health and health equity.