Future workplaces grow up in labs? Workplace surveillance and workers' data protection in 'Living Labs' Office Settings

Description

Living Labs offices are workplaces where workers, employers and researchers work together to investigate solutions for the health, safety and efficiency of the workforce. Given the nature of Living Labs as environments where workers are monitored for research purposes, a wide variety of sensor data collection methods are used. In Living Labs, these sensors can vary, for example, from sensors to measure step counts to sensors embedded in the environment to measure CO2 levels. The data collected in Living Labs therefore vary greatly in terms of type, size and sensitivity. However, this combination of Living Lab and office environment creates a unique context that raises several interesting ethical and legal issues when it comes to handling workers' personal data and to guarantee fundamental freedoms at work. Any design decision on data collection and processing in the context of a Living Lab faces a 'sensing trouble': researchers and employers must consider legal and ethical concerns specific to the combination of work and research situations. How to make surveillance for both research and work purposes non-harmful of workers' rights?

Period	10-Nov-2022
Held at	ETUI., Belgium
Degree of Recognition	Local