Dr Adam Molnar from the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada, will deliver the eleventh CRISP online seminar. The seminar is entitled 'Digital Workplace Surveillance and Automated Management: A Socio-Legal and Technical Inquiry of Employee Monitoring Applications'. This online seminar takes place at 2.00pm BST on Wednesday April 16th 2025. 

Abstract

The intensification of workplace surveillance and the rise of algorithmic management—accelerated by technological advancements and the shift to remote work—raise critical concerns about employee privacy, autonomy, and fundamental rights at work. This presentation discusses an ongoing interdisciplinary research project that integrates perspectives from sociology, surveillance studies, computer science, and law to examine the power imbalances and social impacts generated by employee monitoring applications (EMAs). The research critically assesses how these technologies reconfigure workplace governance, exacerbate surveillance-related antagonisms, and disturb existing legal protections for workers.

Through empirical analysis spanning industry surveys, vendor marketing discourse, user-centered app ethnography, and code-level technical assessments, the presentation explores the ways EMAs are positioned, implemented, and experienced in the workplace. It highlights the tensions between corporate justifications for surveillance—framed around productivity, security, and efficiency—and the broader social and legal implications for worker autonomy, privacy, and dignity. A comparative legal analysis of Canada and the UK interrogates whether existing regulatory frameworks meaningfully protect employees from EMA monitoring and automated decision-making. By merging diverse data sets across the lifecycle of EMA-related workplace governance, from design to regulation, this research advances a critical understanding of workplace surveillance as a site of ongoing contestation and contradiction, underscoring the urgent need for meaningful regulatory adaptation and worker-centered resistance. 

Biography
Adam Molnar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Waterloo. His research integrates surveillance studies, computer science, and critical socio-legal studies to examine the development, impacts, and regulation of digital surveillance technologies. His work critically investigates the design, deployment, and consequences of data-centric technological systems, focusing on digital harms, privacy, human rights, and the politics of technology. Dr. Molnar currently leads a multi-year research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The British Academy, analyzing the use of employee monitoring applications across Canada, the UK, and Europe. His broader research explores the governance, risks, and regulatory challenges associated with surveillance technologies in policing, domestic contexts, intelligence, and national security. Through an interdisciplinary approach, he examines how emerging digital technologies and governance frameworks both reproduce and contest power, exploring alternative possibilities for social and political organization.

The link below will be live approximately 15 minutes before the start of the seminar.

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