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Notre Dame researchers use wearable tech to study workplace success

 

Researchers at The University of Notre Dame are using wearable technology to study the habits of successful workers.

There have been ways to track success by output since people started working. The aim of the study at Notre Dame is to find out what habits can be tracked that impact that success.

The 21-month study includes 750 participants who will have a wrist-based activity tracker, a mobile app and a bluetooth beacon to record their work and collaboration habits as well as other information.

Aaron Striegel is the head of the study.

“Can we add some objectivity to, or can we perhaps observe interesting performance, of what we say your high performers in the workplace, or just general habits of people who are successful in the workplace, can we bring some objectivity to that?”

Striegel says the data could be used to better structure workplaces, or work hours and he hopes it can help define what workplace performance means.

He says while there are some ethical concerns involved with tracking people’s performance at work, they don’t intend the information to be used in hiring or firing, but rather as a tool for employees to use to better themselves.