J Horgan

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On April 14, 2020, J Horgan commented on Evaluating WFH Productivity in the Age of Covid-19 :

This was interesting to read, especially with your own personal information! I agree that circumstances for every worker are different, with key factors being dedicated workspaces and childcare. (I find myself distracted enough by cats. I can only imagine children) I am very interested to see if some companies choose to continue to work remotely following the COVID-19 epidemic. After spending the time to develop procedures to work from home, there will be incentives to reduce the fixed costs of office spaces as long as productivity holds.

Thanks for sharing! This is a really interesting topic to reflect on: just because we can doesn’t mean we should. I feel really split on the issue. While it is understandable for Amazon employees to be concerned with “big brother” monitoring their movements, it seems like it would only really be a problem for them if they had something to hide. I cannot help but think about comparing it to the criminal justice system in America and the 5th Amendment. You have the right to remain silent, however choosing to exercise that right leads people to think that you have done something wrong. Do employees have a right to privacy while at work? Most workplaces already monitor what websites employees go to and frequently have security cameras monitoring both work and rest areas.

On April 14, 2020, J Horgan commented on The Ethics of People Analytics :

Thanks for sharing! This is an interesting topic and I definitely agree with your concerns about trust in human-led decision making and the impact of transparency. As you mention, I am concerned that there is an inherent “Catch 22” involved in algorithms and the data fed to them. Humans are inherently biased, leading us to rely on algorithms, however we also feel that data can be biased, leading us to modify the data we feed into them. We therefore doubt human decided outcomes, yet at the same time modify algorithms until they produce outcomes more similar to what we want/expect. Additionally, while transparency does not inherently produce trust in employees, I would argue that lack of transparency does create far more distrust. In the office example, people may be wary of desk sensors but I think they would be far more upset about the sensors if they were hidden.