This call may be monitored for training purposes. It is the perennial call centre disclaimer — but monitored by whom? The answer to that question is beginning to change. A call centre worker in the US tells me she used to be monitored by a team of people listening to her calls. Now a computer program appraises her performance, based on what she says and how she says it. Her bonus now depends on how much she can impress the algorithm.
The notion of gathering data about staff to make management decisions is far from new. Frederick W Taylor, the father of “scientific management”, was prowling around factories with his stopwatch more than a century ago. But advances in artificial intelligence have presented new opportunities to manage by numbers, from performance management in call centres to recruitment in investment banks.
About time, some might say. Human managers are riddled with biases, both conscious and unconscious. Perhaps algorithms will finally create meritocratic workplaces. I know several HR directors who say their automated recruitment processes are now selecting a much more diverse range of people than their human managers ever did.