Glossary
Algorithmic management
Using software, including AI, to assign, monitor, evaluate, or discipline workers.
Algorithmic management describes workplaces where software makes or shapes decisions traditionally made by managers: scheduling shifts, setting targets, tracking productivity, rating performance, and sometimes firing. It is common in delivery, ride-hailing, warehouses, and call centers, and is spreading to office work.
Laws in several places now require employers to give notice, allow human review, or limit the use of automated decision systems and workplace surveillance in employment decisions.
Whether a system "decides" or only "assists" a human manager is often disputed, and can determine which legal rules apply.
Read more: our explainer