The connected workplace - Award for research team from Lausanne

Prof Dr Tobias Mettler is Professor of Information Management at the University of Lausanne. He and his team are researching algorithmic work surveillance.

‘With the merging of three megatrends: datification, sensorisation and artificial intelligence, algorithmic work surveillance has recently experienced a strong surge. Current solutions collect and utilise huge amounts of data from our daily activities. Measuring work performance is increasingly being pushed into the background while influencing or manipulating individual behaviour is moving to the foreground.’

Tobias Mettler and his team from the University of Lausanne are working on the question of how to strike a balance between collective purpose and individual freedom and are developing solutions to help recognise and limit the potential negative consequences of permanent surveillance in connected workplaces without having to forego the opportunities of digital transformation.

Tobias Mettler was awarded the Walter Enggist Research Prize by the Thurgau Wissenschaft network in autumn 2024 for an article he published on this topic as part of the National Research Programme NRP 77. The topicality and social relevance were emphasised in the laudation. The topic of surveillance is of great importance to the general public and is not only limited to the workplace, but could be applied wherever data is collected.

Further information on the research project and the link to the scientific publications can be found on the NRP 77 project page.