Managing Tech Work Risks -- Not Those, These

Phishing scams? Cake!

AI-based cyber-attacks? Sure!

Quantum apocalypse coming at ya? You got it!

Return to the office mandates, 80-hour work weeks, constant threat of layoffs? But of course!

Workplace wellbeing? 

Workplace wellbeing, come in workforce wellbeing...

Your cybersecurity workplace is lacking in workforce wellbeing. The term wellbeing can be defined as follows:

"[It] is a measure of how well life is going for someone. In the broadest sense, it covers the balance of all positive and negative aspects of a person's life. More narrowly, it refers only to positive degrees and contrasts with ill-being, which denotes negative ones. In this sense, well-being is what egoists typically seek for themselves and altruists aim to enhance in others, serving as a central goal of many individual and societal endeavors.

Researchers discuss different types of well-being by how they are measured, who they belong to, and which domain of life they affect. Subjective well-being refers to how a person feels about and evaluates their life. Objective well-being encompasses factors that can be assessed from an external perspective, such as health, income, and security. Individual well-being concerns the quality of life of a particular person, whereas community well-being measures how well a group of people functions and thrives. Forms of well-being belonging to specific domains of life include physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic well-being."

The workplace is ripe for understanding wellbeing. As Steve Hunt puts it, at the start of the industrial age roughly 120 years ago the goal was to reduce workplace injuries and deaths. That is still important -- even FIFA is in on reducing injuries ("hydration breaks"). As workplaces have become more dependent on technology, the nature of workplace wellbeing has expanded to engagement, purpose, and sense of belonging. 

Shifting into tech-driven workplaces, employment was seen recently as endangered; but as The Wall Street Journal put it recently, organizational leaders have stopped talking about the "jobs wipeout" and started to focus on a "more optimistic tone."

If you're going to have employees, and you're going to have tech, you need to monitor the impact of tech on employees -- you already monitor the impact of employees on tech, after all.

Steve's most recent Substack post discusses seven AI drains on employee wellbeing, and provides recommendations for dealing with them. They are:

1. AI co-dependence. "People who use AI as a form of expert coach appear to be less susceptible to negative effects on their learning and self-confidence. This means taking time to actively engage with AI solutions to understand what they are doing and not relying on AI for every step in the process. People who use AI simply to tell them the answers and do everything for them may get things done faster, but struggle when they are asked to perform the same tasks without AI." 

Wellbeing intervention: "Train and support employees so they use AI in a manner that enhances learning and self-confidence."

2. AI induced social isolation. "By weakening personal bonds between employees, AI poses risks to employee commitment, support and belonging which play key roles in reducing employee turnover and increasing workforce resilience."

Wellbeing intervention: "[E]ncourage and support employees in creating mentoring and coaching relationships that involve ongoing human-to-human conversations about work challenges and opportunities."

3. Mental exhaustion. "Mental exhaustion can result in increased mistakes, poorer sleep, and decreased energy levels. As AI enables more people to engage in software development using things such as vibe coding, mental health risks associated with software development appear to be spreading into new types of work."

Wellbeing intervention: "Expand the use of wellbeing methods associated with software programming to other jobs where employees make extensive use of interactive AI tools to address work tasks."

4. Over-trusting AI. "While over-trusting may not be seen as a wellbeing issue, the consequence of over-trusting AI and under-trusting people could impact employee wellbeing in the form of stress caused by social isolation and job insecurity."

Wellbeing intervention: "Employees and managers should be reminded that AI solutions can and do make mistakes. And leaders responsible for making talent decisions should be coached so they do not inappropriately compare humans to machines when evaluating job performance."

5. Algorithmic anxiety. "The term 'algorithmic anxiety' refers to emotions employees experience when they feel core parts of their work are likely to be automated by technology."

Wellbeing intervention: "Algorithmic anxiety can be reduced by defining the role employees will play in the organization after AI has been implemented, clarifying how use of AI will change the skills employees need for their jobs, and providing employees with a path to make the transition from pre-AI to post-AI work."

6. AI expert paradox. "[M]anaging the stress experts can feel when they are asked to use an AI solution that could challenge their credibility and value as experts."

Wellbeing intervention: "Addressing the expert paradox is about showing how expert employees long-term careers will benefit from using AI solutions. Using AI in a way that challenges and builds expert capabilities and not asking experts to use AI systems merely to do things the experts already know how to do. Another issue is figuring out how to equitably resolve issues that may occur when expert employees disagree with AI recommendations and actions."

7. Algorithmic management. "Algorithmic management poses at least two specific wellbeing risks. First, it can lead to employees being constantly measured which results in heightened sense of anxiety and an inability to take time off to “mentally recharge”. Second, because AI solutions are incapable of actually caring about another human, use of algorithmic management can increase feelings of social isolation."

Wellbeing intervention: "Companies using algorithmic management techniques can protect employee wellbeing by creating breaks when employee behavior is not being actively recorded...No person should ever feel like they are working for a machine."

There are common themes here arising from a dread of loss -- of purpose, self-perception, engagement with the organization and co-workers. You need to take these apprehensions seriously, because when you do that you will build a loyal, committed workforce. Isn't that what you need?

Final thought: dismissing these issues and recommendations because "that's just how it is" or "I had it worse" or something like that simply doesn't work in the modern tech workforce.

Ask us how you can make your tech workplace more humanized and more productive.