Joe O’Keefe Speaks With TechTarget on AI-enabled Employee Monitoring Software

Labor and employment partner Joe O’Keefe spoke with TechTarget about AI-enabled employee monitoring software’s role in measuring performance and the raised concerns that it might help automate hiring, firing and promotion decisions.

The article discusses a proposed Massachusetts bill that governs employee data collection and use and requires notification of a company's specific form of employee monitoring; it also regulates the use of automated decision-making in employment, in part by requiring an Algorithmic Impact Assessment before using a system.

O’Keefe shared that the Massachusetts bill is just one of many emerging in states such as New York, New Jersey and California, as well as in Congress, that would set transparency requirements for employee monitoring software and AI use.

He also said AI is evolving so fast that it will be some time before vendors, their customers and governments understand the legal complexities of these systems. But unless employees are aware of how algorithms are used and how employees are measured at work, it will create problems, he said.

"The best way to preserve trust," O'Keefe said, "is to make sure that the employees understand how their performance is being monitored."