Smart Workplaces for older adults: coping ‘ethically’ with technology pervasiveness

Abstract

Pervasive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things, despite their great potential for improved workability and well-being of older workers, entail wide ethical concerns. Aligned with these considerations we emphasize the need to present from the viewpoint of ethics the risks of personalized ICT solutions that aim to remedy health and support the well-being of the ageing population at workplaces. The ethical boundaries of digital technologies are opaque. The main motivation is to cope with the uncertainties of workplaces’ digitization and develop an ethics framework, termed SmartFrameWorK, for personalized health support through ICT tools at workplace environments. SmartFrameWorK is built upon a five-dimensional approach of ethics norms: autonomy, privacy, transparency, trustworthiness and accountability to incite trust in digital workplace technologies. A typology underpins these principles and guides the ethical decision-making process with regard to older worker particular needs, context, data type-related risks and digital tools’ use throughout their lifecycle. Risk analysis of pervasive technology use and multimodal data collection, highlighted the imperative for ethically aware practices for older workers' activity and behaviour monitoring. The SmartFrameWorK methodology has been applied in a case study to provide evidence that personalized digital services could elicit trust in users through a well-defined framework. Ethics compliance is a dynamic process from participants’ engagement to data management. Defining ethical determinants is pivotal towards building trust and reinforcing better workability and well-being in older workers.