The Danish Board of Technology has published a study focusing on possible links between technology and marginalisation from work. Such a link is difficult to assess at aggregate level; however, qualitative data indicate significant changes in working conditions when new technology is introduced. These changes may impose a risk of marginalisation for some employees if the adjustments put pressure on job security, autonomy and the meaning of the job.
In March 2009, the Danish Board of Technology (Teknologirådet) published the results of a study, entitled Technology and marginalisation (Teknologi og marginalisering (813Kb PDF)), on possible connections between the introduction and use of technology in the workplace and the marginalisation of employees.
It is generally accepted that new technology may pose a marginalisation risk for specific groups, such as older workers in the form of early retirement (see, for example, LU0701059I). However, the Danish report emphasises that technology may lead to marginalisation risks in the sense that new technology is often found to alter the structure of work.
About the study
The study findings are based on three separate case workshops with bus drivers, social workers and elder care workers, as well as a fourth workshop with all three occupational groups, in order to identify common experiences with technology in the work lives of the participants.
The selection of these three occupational groups was based on the fact that they have experienced the introduction of many new technologies over the last 10 to 15 years. Moreover, they are especially vulnerable to early retirement and tend to report high levels of work-related stress in surveys.
Unsatisfactory participation in the job
The study applies a broad concept of marginalisation by emphasising that labour market marginalisation is a process at individual level. Against a background of individual characteristics, processes of marginalisation may start as the result of a lack of recognition, development opportunities, meaning and social support in the job. If such fundamental social needs are not satisfied, the employee might face the risk of exclusion in the workplace and labour market marginalisation. Thus, the study defines marginalisation as unsatisfactory participation.
Regarding technology, unsatisfactory participation may be the situation of an employee experiencing insufficient mastery or inability to control new technical systems. This topic was also discussed in the report Use of technology and working conditions in the European Union, published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) in 2008.
Impacts of technology
The main problem in assessing the impacts of technology on marginalisation is that the latter is most commonly described in terms of individual complications – for example, as the result of long-term sickness absence, early retirement and/or mental disorders. Moreover, available statistics on marginalised individuals do not contain information on the content of work and working conditions that these persons might have experienced.
However, as claimed by the Danish study, these circumstances are likely to conceal actual links between working conditions and technology and marginalisation. The study results show that new technology often leads to profound changes in working conditions, often with considerable impact on the quality in work. This finding is similar to that of Eurofound’s comparative analysis on information technology (TN0412TR01). The consequences for working conditions are closely related to the organisation of work and the context of the application of new technologies.
Summarising the study results, the Danish report concludes that the introduction of new technology may put pressure on:
- job security;
- autonomy in the job;
- the meaning of the job.
Job security is put under pressure when technology implies the risk of layoffs, when specific competences become dispensable and if there is a change in focus regarding the tasks to be undertaken in the job.
Autonomy in the job is strained when technology implies the monitoring of work and increased managerial control.
The meaning of the job is undermined when employees experience that the technology leads to less contact with colleagues and is given precedence over human relations.
Thus, it appears that technology can have both positive and negative effects in the workplace.
Rune Holm Christiansen and Helle Ourø Nielsen, Oxford Research