The quantified workplace: A study in self-tracking, agility and change management

Abstract

While self-and other tracking devices are increasingly common in workplaces, they are normally implemented either for explicit productivity and efficiency monitoring (warehouses) or as part of wellness initiatives (white collar and office work) rather than as part of change management. This chapter looks at one company's project work design experiment where management provided several devices to employees to record productivity and movement and asked for daily self-reports on subjective well-being and stress. The quantified workplace study (QWS) was designed by the company to identify how productivity and resilience can be self-managed in times of transition through self-awareness and healthy lifestyles and well-being in what authors call the new era of agility.