More and more companies are using AI to monitor employee activity and it’s causing, shall we say, some concerned employees.
For example, earlier this year, Burger King employed an AI agent to monitor speech of its employees when taking drive-up orders. Burger King calls its call AI agent “Patty” (as opposed to “Greasey” or “Saturated Fatty”). Burger King uses Patty to monitor whether employees are saying certain words when interacting with customers that Burger King wants them to use – words such as “welcome,” “please” and “thank you.” (That an AI agent is necessary to ensure such words are used when interacting with customers is another issue altogether).
More recently, a company in England that provides call center services has employed an AI agent to monitor every single call each of its call center employees have with customers. There are 50 discrete markers that the AI agent is designed to look for in the conversations. Some workers have, in polite terms, “freaked out” about the AI agent’s listening in, calling it “dystopian.” Undoubtedly, employees are going to be concerned the more that AI agents are used to monitor their performance.
Whenever using an AI agent to assess employee performance, savvy employers should ensure that the AI agent does not become a de facto supervisor. Human intervention is always a good idea when making decisions regarding promotion, hiring, discipline or termination. AI agents are one of many tools employers should use to make hiring decisions and performance evaluations. They should not, however, replace supervisors or HR managers.
Further, employers should make employees aware of any AI agent that will be monitoring their performance. Similar to policies informing employees that their use of the employer’s communications and computer systems may be monitored, employees should be made aware that an AI agent may be used to help the employer evaluate the employee’s performance. Tell your employees that the AI agent is one of many tools used to evaluate performance. It is not their new computer overlord.
