ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and accelerated two trends that are now fully part of the "new normal” of work. First, the erosion of boundaries between work and life has become very salient with the normalization of work from home. Second, the quantification of organizational control, which was already present in monitoring devices and algorithmic management, has reached news levels with electronic monitoring of employees through "bossware” and Internet of Behaviours devices. This essay chapter analyses these trends and argues that active regulation of technology and its implications at work and outside of work is now an integral part of work for workers in many occupations. Specifically, the new normal of work routinely includes devising and adapting rules and behaviours around three major challenges: (a) constant connectivity (when and where workers are connected and available to work);(b) self-presentation (disclosures on video conferences, social media, and other online spaces);and (c) privacy (protecting personal information despite monitoring software, trackers, and algorithmic work). Colliding worlds and quantified algorithmic control are deep-rooted trends that must be addressed by workers, employers, unions, public policy makers, and scholars, if we are to build a new normal sustainable workplace. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
ABSTRACT
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the shift to high-intensity remote work-three days or more a week-accelerated the digitalization of work processes and the blurring of boundaries between work and personal life through videoconferencing and the use of personal devices for work. This paper explores the relationships between high-intensity remote workers' information and communication technologies (ICT) privacy concerns, psychological climate for face time, and organizational affective commitment. Building on organizational support and social information processing theories, we argue that ICT privacy concerns and perceptions that an organization values physical presence in-office may undermine commitment to the organization. Based on a two-wave study of 1065 remote workers in a large multinational bank, we find that ICT privacy concerns and psychological climate for face time reinforce one another and are negatively associated with subsequent affective organizational commitment. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.