By Enya Miller (24-25)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a concept for the future; it’s already integrated into many workplaces. From chatbots responding to customer inquiries to software that monitors employee productivity, AI is transforming organisational operations. For employers, these tools offer the promise of a more productive workforce. However, for employees, AI monitoring can often feel quite different: intrusive, unfair, and for some, threatening.  

How does AI monitoring impact employees’ trust in their employers? Trust is essential to bind workplace relationships. When it’s lacking, employees can become demotivated, disengaged, or even resentful towards their organisation.  

Why trust matters at work:

When individuals have trust in their employer, they are more inclined to share ideas, collaborate, and remain loyal to the organisation.  

However, trust is delicate. Suppose employees perceive themselves as being under constant surveillance, especially from a machine they don’t completely comprehend. In that case, they may see this as a signal that their employer questions their competence. Studies have indicated that when trust drops, employees may resist, disengage, or even depart from the organisation.  

Therefore, the stakes are significant: implementing AI monitoring could enhance oversight, but it also threatens to undermine the very trust that organisations need to succeed.  

What I did in this study:

I conducted an online study involving over 100 working adults from varying work sectors. Rather than monitoring them directly, participants were presented with short scenarios (referred to as vignettes) depicting a workplace situation.  

Some scenarios featured AI monitoring (for instance, software tracking engagement, health and safety, or well-being).  

Others illustrated human monitoring (where a human manager was responsible).  

Participants also completed a baseline trust measure prior to encountering any monitoring.  

Following each scenario, participants evaluated how much they trusted their employer.  

The study also asked: did they feel the AI was acting in their best interest?  

What I found:

The results indicated: trust was significantly lower when AI monitored employees compared to being monitored by humans or not monitored at all.  

Interestingly, my study did not uncover strong evidence that the monitoring domain (engagement, well-being, or health and safety) significantly impacted trust levels. Even when AI was monitoring for positive reasons, such as ensuring employee safety, the decline in trust persisted.  

However, there was one encouraging finding. Employees who felt that AI was being utilised fairly and in their best interest reported higher levels of trust. This highlights that the way organisations introduce, explain, and apply AI can significantly influence outcomes.  

Why does this matter for organisations?

For managers, leaders, and HR professionals, these findings suggest:  

AI undermines autonomy. Self-Determination Theory suggests that employees need autonomy, competence, and relatedness to stay motivated. AI monitoring risks autonomy, making individuals feel controlled rather than empowered.  

Psychological safety is at risk. A workplace should be an environment where employees feel safe to take risks, make mistakes, and be themselves without fear of judgment. AI monitoring can create a sense of constant observation, resulting in pressure and anxiety.  

Fairness is crucial. Procedural Justice Theory indicates that individuals are more likely to accept decisions, even unfavourable ones, if they believe the process is fair. If employees perceive AI as being implemented ethically, transparently, and with their well-being in mind, trust is far more likely to endure.  

What should organisations do?  

Be transparent. Employees should be informed about what is being monitored, the reasons behind it, and how the data will be utilised. 

Emphasise support, not control. AI should be positioned as a tool for development, rather than solely for evaluation.

Build trust before technology. Organisations that prioritise strong relationships with their employees are better equipped to adopt new technologies without provoking resistance.  

Check for fairness. Regular reviews should be conducted to ensure that AI monitoring is applied consistently, without bias, and in alignment with employees’ expectations.  

Consider Leadership training to ensure empowered employees, to mitigate any effects of AI implementation. 

What this research adds  

This study contributes significantly to the ongoing discussion regarding AI in the workplace. It reveals that:  

The presence of AI monitoring is enough to diminish trust, regardless of its stated purpose.  

Perceived fairness and intention serve as critical buffers, helping to sustain trust even in the presence of AI.  

Organisations must carefully consider not just what AI monitors, but also how it is introduced and communicated to employees. 

Limitations and next steps  

Like all research, this study has its limitations. The scenarios were hypothetical, meaning participants didn’t undergo real monitoring. Future research should examine AI in actual workplace environments to determine if similar effects occur. My sample size was also limited, and group imbalance might have affected statistical power.  

Nevertheless, the findings offer a solid foundation for understanding employee responses to AI monitoring and guiding practical solutions. 

Final thoughts  

My research indicates that when AI monitoring is applied ethically, transparently, and with genuine concern for employees, AI could evolve into a supportive tool rather than a means of control.

By Isolde Williats (22-23)

In the not-so-distant past, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we worked and lived our lives overnight. As well as the devastating illness and loss of life that the virus caused, many workers found themselves jobless or forced to work under new conditions. Sectors that relied on face-to-face interactions such as retail, hospitality, travel, and teaching were especially hard hit as people were instructed to hide away in their homes and only venture out for occasional exercise, to buy food or to collect medicine. Many employees were instructed to work from their homes if their job permitted, to reduce the spread of the disease. Working from home is not a new concept, however, for a time, working from home became the new norm. People found that from home, they were able to work and look after their children, as schools shut their doors and online learning ensued. For some, working from home resulted in a better work-life balance, with less time spent commuting, enjoying the comforts of their own home, and spending more time with their families. However, for some, working from home meant they found themselves juggling work and home chores, not having a quiet separate space to work, and becoming bored of sleeping, living, and working within the same four walls.

Another aspect of the pandemic was its undeniable power to force workers into innovation and new ways of thinking. With the world turned on its head, people started to question their business models and realised the fragility of several aspects of the working world. As the needs of the world changed, new business ideas were created, and other ways of working were more heavily considered. Either because they had been left jobless by the pandemic, or they wanted to develop a new work from home venture (or both), the pandemic saw an influx of home-based entrepreneurs.

The current study:

• The current study consisted of 11 participants who all identified as women who started a home-based business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Once participants were provided with information about the study and consent was obtained, semi-structed interviews were conducted via Zoom.
• Participants were asked about their experiences of starting a home-based business during the pandemic. They were asked about the advantages and disadvantages of home-based entrepreneurship, why they started their business when they did, as well as some questions specific to their gender.
• With consent, the interviews were recorded and transcripts were generated.
• From these transcripts, common themes between the participants were able to be identified. This is a process known as thematic analysis which is often used in qualitative research to extrapolate information from rich data, such as transcripts.
• These themes were then collated together, and subthemes were also generated (see diagram below).

Themes identified:

When examining the themes and their links to each other, there were several aspects that were particularly relevant:

• The importance of technology to aid and empower female home-based entrepreneurship.
• Technology was reported to be used for communication by all participants, however, isolation and loneliness still prevailed in all cases except one.
• The difference between the ‘blur’ and the ‘blend’ of work and home life and the factors that contribute to both.

The importance of technology:

Of course, the use of technology for business is not a new phenomenon. However, its particular involvement in aiding female entrepreneurship may be poignant. This is due to the suggestion that female entrepreneurs may have less access to networks, finance knowledge and other resources that may aid their entrepreneurship. However, with the use of technology, access to these resources becomes easier and more readily available, due to the vast range of content on the internet and via technology. Digital technology allows female entrepreneurs to learn critical entrepreneurial skills (sometimes for free), communicate with a wider network, and build an entire business- all from their own homes. In this sense, technology possesses democratising properties which lower the entry levels into entrepreneurship for marginalised groups, such as women.

Isolation and loneliness:

All participants in the current study said they used technology to communicate during the pandemic, however, all except one still reported feelings of isolation and loneliness. These feelings were surely exacerbated during the pandemic due to lockdown measures and social distancing (Tull et al., 2020), however, loneliness is still an epidemic of its own, especially for home-based workers. Previous research has suggested that although technology can be used to communicate with others, it is often missing a key aspect- intimacy (Pittman & Reich, 2016), which can result in loneliness still prevailing.

Blend or blur?

The increased autonomy and flexibility that home-based entrepreneurs reported seemed to result in varying outcomes, based on several factors. One of which was the physical space in which they worked. Working in a shared room in the home, or at the corner of a communal table, for example, can result in negative outcomes such as feeling work and home life blur together, making it harder to switch off.

How can this research help female home-based entrepreneurs?

Here are my recommendations:

1. Technology needs to be made highly accessible for women and girls who are interested in an entrepreneurial career. This could be in the form of access to laptops, or subsidised wifi access. Additionally, teaching women skills to increase their digital literacy is needed to allow them to access the benefits technology can bring them.

2. Regarding loneliness and the use of technology, research suggests that certain forms of online communication are better than others for combatting loneliness. For example, platforms that are image-based such as Instagram and Snapchat, provide more of a sense of intimacy (Pittman & Reich, 2016). Therefore, considering how you communicate online is important to combatting loneliness. Additionally, home-based entrepreneurs mustn’t forget that face-to-face interactions can’t always be replaced, so it’s important to connect in real life as well.

3. Finally, to help entrepreneurs achieve a healthier ‘blend’ of work and home life as opposed to a ‘blur’, working in a separate office space within the home can help to create barriers between the two. Of course, not all homes can accommodate for a separate space just for an office, but the importance of this should be strongly considered by entrepreneurs. Options such as installing flexible partitions to divide an already existing space (Friedman, 2023), or using an outhouse should be investigated. Additionally, the home-building industry should consider the importance of this space when designing and building new homes.