According to an Uproxx article:
Japanese electronics company Hitachi has developed a device for people to wear that will track their overall happiness with their employer. It looks similar to an ID badge, but it’s embedded with an acceleration sensor that monitors an employee’s motions during the day. Hitachi claims that there’s a correlation between people’s physical movements and their sense of happiness, and the data across an entire office full of employees wearing these badges can be collectively analyzed to measure workplace happiness on a scale of 0-100.It appears that the gadget, which will be sold on a subscription basis, tracks happiness levels across an entire department rather than on an individual employee level. Whew! We were all really worried there for a second!
If happiness is measured according to movement, however, then the outside sales department should regularly revel in higher happiness levels than, say, the accounting department, correct? Outside salespeople get to go outside, after all. So managers who use these devices may need to ponder the typical motion in the ocean of each department before they analyze these happiness ratings.
What will managers do, exactly, with the data they gather? It's one thing to gather data; it's another thing entirely to interpret data. What does it all mean, and how will it be applied to real people in a real workplace setting who are doing completely different jobs?
Sorry Accounting, we've run the numbers and you guys are the least happy people of any department in the entire company with an overall happiness score of 62.
Okay, now what? A 60-day probation period pending higher happiness levels? Free food in the break room? Free yoga classes? All Pharrell, all the time? I'm partial to the D.C. version myself.
Also, we bring our emotions from home to work. We can't help it. We try to forget our sadness over a sick pet or an upset friend, but we can't block it out entirely during the work day. It's still in the back of our minds; we just manage to hide it well.
So how does the device deal with the complicated emotions in our personal lives that might get lumped into the overall happiness score? Our overall department score would have been better if it weren't for you and your messy divorce proceedings!
Wow, this blog post is quickly growing complicated amid an increasing number of variables. But the point is: The future is here, everyone! In the form of small, wearable I.D. badge-type thingie that says "Human Big Data" on it. Are you happy now?
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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