Digital tools enable an increasingly pervasive monitoring and surveillance of work. Algorithms can be used in management functions, such as planning, organisation, command, coordination and control.
The JRC is working to provide a strong conceptual foundation for the analysis of algorithmic management and is developing novel empirical work to understand its implications, from work organisation to working conditions and job quality. This area of research builds on previous JRC work on the digitisation of work and digital labour platforms.
The algorithmic management of work: A basic compass
The JRC defines algorithmic management as the use of computer-programmed procedures to coordinate labour input in an organisation. This activity, which can be powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or not, may involve defining and assigning of work shifts, developing and delivering of job-related instructions, the assessing the performance of workers, and assigning rewards or penalties.
Management refers to a set of functions and activities to coordinate all work processes within an organisation. Some of its main functions are as planning, staffing, command, coordination and control. Algorithmic management entails the use of algorithms for the performance of one or more of these functions.
Algorithmic management, by automating management functions, has several implications for the organisations that adopt it and for the workers involved, namely:
- Changing work organisation, including over pace of work, communication, and reward, which affect working conditions and job quality,
- Changing industrial relations, by altering employment relations and encouraging outsourcing.
- Creating information asymmetries between employers and employees, which weaken the bargaining power and the involvement of workers in the production process.
Although the potential implications of algorithmic management are concerning, there is still very limited statistical evidence about its use, because the phenomenon is recent and rapidly evolving.
Most of what is known about the phenomenon of algorithmic management comes from research on digital labour platforms and platform workers. JRC research aims to provide valuable evidence through the Algorithmic Management and Platform Work survey (AMPWork) study.
The JRC AIMWORK survey
Based on the AMPWork study, the new AIMWORK survey conducted in 2024-2025 in all EU Member States measures the use of digital tools including AI, and the prevalence and conditions of digital monitoring, algorithmic management and the platformisation of work in the EU.
The AIMWORK study finds that the overwhelming majority of workers use digital tools at work, with one third reporting the use of AI for work-related purposes. A significant share of workers are subject to digital monitoring and algorithmic management. The monitoring of working time is the most common form of digitally-enabled monitoring, although the physical monitoring of workers or the monitoring of their activities are also quite prevalent across various sectors and countries. The automated allocation of work — or the assignment of shifts or working time via a digital device — is the most common form of algorithmic management. A smaller share of workers is also allocated work activities, or has its pace of work determined by a digital device. The automated evaluation of workers is less prevalent but not marginal and quite significant in some sectors.
We identify two distinct types of platformisation, typical respectively of industrial and office workplaces. Our evidence indicates that some types of platformisation have no significant implications for working conditions. However, the full platformisation of work, which includes simultaneously all the forms of digital monitoring and algorithmic management that we identify on the basis of the data, is associated with generally worse working conditions. This applies also to the forms of platformisation more prevalent in manual work settings.
Case studies on algorithmic management in the Logistics and Healthcare Sectors
This joint JRC-ILO report looks at algorithmic management in a global perspective across different countries and sectors, with a focus on work organisation, job quality and industrial relations.
The project, conducted in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), studies the logistics and healthcare sectors, in two European countries (Italy and France) and two non-European ones (South Africa and India). The report shows that algorithmic management is widely present in traditional sectors, with benefits in terms of streamlining and simplification of work processes and efficiency gains. However significant challenges emerge in terms of potential deterioration of job quality as well as concerns regarding the strong potential for intrusive worker surveillance.
Publications
Rani, U., Pesole, A. and Gonzalez Vazquez, I., Algorithmic Management practices in regular workplaces: case studies in logistics and healthcare, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2024, doi:10.2760/712475, JRC136063.
Baiocco, S. and Fernández-Macías, E. (2022), Algorithmic management: A basic compass, JRC Science for Policy Brief on Labour, Education and Employment.
Urzì Brancati, M., C., Curtarelli , M., Riso, S., Baiocco, S. How digital technology is reshaping the art of management, European Commission, Seville, 2022, JRC130808.
Baiocco, S., Fernández-Macías, E., Rani, U. and Pesole, A., The Algorithmic Management of work and its implications in different contexts, Seville: European Commission, 2022, JRC129749.
Wood, AJ (2021), Algorithmic Management: Consequences for Work Organisation and Working Conditions, Seville: European Commission, 2021, JRC124874
Gonzalez Vazquez, I., Fernandez Macias, E., Wright, S. and Villani, D., Digital Monitoring, Algorithmic Management and the Platformisation of Work in Europe, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/9406086, JRC143072.
DE Cuyper, K., Gysen, S., Vinciguerra, M.C. and Wright, S., Methodology of the AIM-WORK survey (JRC Survey on Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Management in the Workplace) - JRC Working Papers Series on Labour, Education and Technology 2025/06, European Commission, Seville, 2025, JRC143933.
