Self-assessment questions for pilots
In an age of digitalization, especially since the pandemic, workers have wanted more flexibility, support, and collaboration. Employers often promise to improve the worker’s experience through technologies. Organisations, industries, and technologies, however, often fall short of their promises, especially when they do not put the human first. In this tension, we go for the SEISMEC shift : combining technological advances with the empowerment of workers through fair and ethical digital practices. This shift moves beyond an Industry 4.0 perspective, which prioritises technology and intensive data analytics, to Industry 5.0 perspective, which focuses on the relationship between human empowerment and new technologies.
How can industries ensure technology empowers workers while enhancing competitiveness? We argue that this can be done when industries operationalize key CAPS empowerment factors. These CAPS factors are made of 8 complementary concepts and require active participation to engage both concepts to empower workers.
But what do these concepts look like, and how can you address them in your own organisation? We provide a brief discussion below with targeted questions at 3 categories ( worker, organisation, and industry-wide ) to help you assess your own organisation.
C
Collaboration + Creativity
Collaboration simply means interacting with others, but it also comprises a multifaceted strategy for creativity, problem-solving, and collective achievement. Collaboration involves understanding shared goals, co-managing tasks, and tracking progress together. Similarly, creativity has been understood as the ability to produce work that is both novel and appropriate and is considered as a key driver of innovation.
In Industry 5.0, we must use technology in human-centred ways for better teamwork, communication, and sharing. This will drive creative progress and goal achievement. Advanced technology is shaping how collaboration and creativity evolve in organisations. It is important to figure out how humans can collaborate effectively with colleagues, stakeholders, and intelligent machines to align work processes and outcomes with everyone’s needs. To foster innovative work, creating an environment that supports cross-functional collaboration and effectively communicates vision is important.
A
Autonomy + Automation
In simple terms, autonomy refers to the capacity of an individual, agent, or system to make decisions and manage decisions independently, with little or no external assistance. Automation means using systems and technologies to do tasks that humans used to do, often without needing people to intervene, using machines to automate production. These two terms are often seen as contradictory. Automation processes could potentially limit the freedom of others. Currently, using automation in the wrong way could result in negative effects like job loss, economic inequality, and lower job satisfaction.
To ensure more human-centric technology implementations, decisions about automation should consider employee autonomy. Achieving human-centric innovations requires balancing autonomy and automation where technology enhances, rather than reducing, human abilities. By embracing principles of meaningful human control and prioritising the greater level of autonomy, organisations can effectively address automation complexities. This approach empowers individuals, creates human-centric work environments, fosters creativity and upholds human dignity in the face of technological advancements.
P
Privacy + Productivity
Privacy is hard to define, but it can be understood as sharing information outside socially agreed contextual boundaries. Productivity refers to the ratio of output to input for a specific production situation and is crucial for economic activities. The challenge lies in agreeing on what those privacy boundaries are. Workers want privacy, but employers may feel they have legal rights to limit it. Thus, management attention is needed to balance the interaction between using technology for increased productivity and respecting individuals’ privacy.
On the one hand, advanced technologies can increase surveillance and employee monitoring, which may lead to higher stress, lower job satisfaction, and health issues. On the other hand, surveillance practices and employee monitoring are often used to boost productivity and ensure fairness. Technological solutions aim to balance individual privacy and productivity as harmonious concepts, not conflicting ones.
Therefore, by prioritising workers’ empowerment, employers gain from finding a balance between privacy and productivity. Clear communication about productivity can help employees understand the company’s goals and introduce the management’s plans for improvement. However, the strategic view of productivity held by managers tends to differ from the more operational view of productivity held by assembly line operators. This indicates that productivity needs to be approached differently at each level and that the means for achieving high productivity may be level specific.
S
Safety + Satisfaction
Safety is a key aspect of workplace health. Its goal is to ensure the best physical, mental, and social well-being for all workers and to prevent any negative health effects from their work conditions. Job satisfaction is more the extent to which employees are satisfied or dissatisfied with their job. The integration of human-centric approaches across industries has gained significant attention because of its benefits, like preventing accidents and saving energy. This has led to many new technological safety solutions.
While safety is important for job satisfaction, it doesn’t always guarantee it. While both individuals and organisations seek to promote and build safe work environments, it is also critical to ensure that technological solutions used to improve security do not harm employee well-being. Job satisfaction cannot be achieved if employees are concerned about job security. Instead, safety measures should be seen as empowering factors within the work environment that enhance both safety and satisfaction, along with other positive CAPS factors like autonomy and privacy.
Overall, human safety is fundamental, so human-centric systems should aim to place human operators, their knowledge, and skills in key positions. By using human-centred design principles, organisations can develop technology that aligns with workers’ needs and behaviours, ultimately improving safety and usability.
