Communications of the ACM
IBM Researchers Try to Measure Employee Well-Being Using Technology
Credit: L'Atelier BNP Paribas
Researchers at IBM and the Delft University of Technology are working to develop computer systems that could help foster well-being among employees. The project, known as "Inclusive Enterprise," has been underway for about a year, and currently is focused on creating systems that can help ensure employees are comfortable at work.
The effort seeks to use IBM's various platforms, including it's IBM Bluemix cloud development platform and IBM Connections internal social collaboration tool and, eventually, its Watson cognitive computing system, to aggregate and analyze information from social media, mobile apps, and sensors to gain a better understanding of what makes a given worker comfortable. Eventually, the hope is that systems will be able to recommend workspaces optimized for factors such as temperature and noise level. "Eventually, we foresee a system that automatically recommends working conditions that are best for each employee," says Robert-Jan Sips, research lead at IBM's Center for Advanced Studies Benelux in Amsterdam.
The research currently is in the exploratory phase, and some of the next steps include finding ways to gather measurements from existing devices, such as smartphones, as well as using gamification techniques to increase employee engagement.
From The Wall Street Journal
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