When Technology Changes the Job

Publication overview

Publication record

Publication type: Practical Brief
Length: 6 pages
Geographic focus: Canada
Main subjects: Work redesign, Automation, Human performance
Format: PDF

Summary

What this publication examines

A technology can remove one task while creating new demands elsewhere. This brief helps workplace leaders examine how automation and digital systems may change tasks, pace, workload, decision authority, skills, monitoring and physical demands.

Technology adoption should be treated as work redesign

Key considerations

Three key considerations

Technology adoption should be treated as work redesign
Examine how a proposed technology may change the job—not only whether the tool functions as intended.
Examine normal operations, busy periods, exceptions, workarounds and system failures
The review should cover tasks, pace, workload, decision-making, skills and physical demands across the full range of real operating conditions.
Verify safety, productivity, worker experience and adoption outcomes before scaling
Measure the effects of the change on the job and the people doing it before extending or scaling the technology.

Evidence and sources

Sources and evidence notes

Complete sources and evidence notes are provided in the publication.

Official statistical and regulatory sources are used for core factual claims where available. Survey, think-tank, consulting and international evidence is used as complementary context and is identified by source type. Descriptive associations are not presented as causal effects, and measures with different populations, definitions or reference periods are not treated as directly comparable.

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