Imagine you work in a call center. Suddenly, your manager summons you. He wants to “discuss a plan to improve” your performance.
This is because your company is now using artificial intelligence to evaluate productivity. This includes voice recognition algorithms to analyze your interactions with customers. And according to these algorithms, you have an “unempathetic tone.”
This example worthy of an episode of the British TV series Black Mirror is taken from a document published last December by the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology (OBVIA).
A few weeks ago, I attended the launch of this guide on algorithmic management “for those in the world of work”, which was attended by representatives of the union world and researchers from OBVIA and HEC Montréal.
A guide to what?
“Algorithmic management is when management decisions, in whole or in part, are executed by a machine, by an algorithm,” explains Vincent Pasquier, professor in the human resources management department at HEC Montréal.
I would like to point out here that we often talk about fundamental decisions. Of those “which consist of saying what people must do, when they must do it, how they must do it, but also sanctioning or rewarding workers if they have worked well or poorly”, summarizes the expert.
I invited Vincent Pasquier and the president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), Éric Gingras, to discuss with me what promises to be a major upheaval in the world of work. They both made presentations on this subject during the launch of the OBVIA guide.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, and Vincent Pasquier, professor in the human resources management department of HEC Montréal
They are among those who are thinking about the best ways to avoid slippage by implementing artificial intelligence in the world of work.
“The big news is the sophistication of the technology behind management decisions. These are increasingly powerful tools, which use more and more data and which make increasingly refined decisions,” underlines Vincent Pasquier.
There is much talk about the destructive potential of artificial intelligence for the job market. Unfortunately, in my opinion, we do not yet focus enough on the impact of artificial intelligence on the quality of work. Including the potential for dehumanization of algorithms.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec
Our claim is to say that artificial intelligence could help working conditions, but also the company, based on what employees have to say and not by monitoring them.
Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec
Call center employees monitored by artificial intelligence are not science fiction. There already exists software, including that of the company Cogito, which evaluates both the voice of employees and their productivity.
THE New York Times talked about this phenomenon a few years ago, suggesting that a robot may not steal your job, but could “become your boss”1.
“The ability to monitor and, therefore, control employees has major economic potential,” emphasizes Vincent Pasquier. On the other hand, for the workers that we are, it is a future that seems very, very undesirable. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Vincent Pasquier, professor in the human resources management department of HEC Montréal
Studies are quite clear that surveillance breaks the bond of trust, sense of autonomy, job satisfaction, etc.
Vincent Pasquier, professor in the human resources management department of HEC Montréal
The president of the CSQ points out that the changes caused by artificial intelligence will force many employees to become “hyper-specialized”. And those who fail to do so will pay the price.
There will thus be more “specialized jobs where we will analyze what artificial intelligence will give us,” he explains. But there are some who won’t be able to do that. » Result: we will entrust them with less important tasks.
There will indeed be many cases where “your work will be deskilled,” adds Vincent Pasquier.
“It’s a phenomenon called job polarization. It was not born with AI, but it is a trend that will be reinforced by AI. The figures are quite clear on a Canadian scale: the middle class is atrophying to the benefit, on the one hand, of the development of more qualified, better paid, more interesting professions and, on the other hand, of less qualified, less paid, less interesting. »
What do Vincent Pasquier and Éric Gingras propose so that algorithms are used to improve the lot of workers and not the opposite?
We should start by “making artificial intelligence and algorithmic management a subject of labor relations”, recommends the professor.
“In Quebec, we have this capacity to work on social dialogue,” adds the trade unionist. In many cases, we are able to sit down with the bosses and say: how are we able to build something? »
And our elected officials, it’s worth repeating, also have a role to play. “How will labor laws govern all of this? », asks Éric Gingras.
Let’s not wait to act until local companies start firing employees following decisions made by artificial intelligence!
1. Read the article from New York Times
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reference: www.lapresse.ca