Introduction
On Monday, December 5th , 2023 at 7:00am. My manager received a call from the systems analyst that was hired to provide on-site orientation to new hires, was involved in a motor vehicle accident. The analyst’s car was totalled and she had suffered injuries from the impact of the collision. My manager found out that the analyst was tasked by her lead to provide on-site training despite the hazardous conditions of the road. Therefore, to eliminate employee exploitation and to ensure safety of all staff, my manager instigated a proposal to create a Moodle Learning Hub orientation course that had the capacity to replace the “ghost work” that was done by his exhausted staff behind the scenes. The purpose was to replace any on-site orientations that took time to coordinate, organise, and confirm and replace it with a self-serve solution that any user any 4 health authorities (Fraser Health Authority (FHA), Providence Health Care (PHC), Provincial Health Service Authority (PHSA), and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)) can access and learn at their own pace. It also frees up time for the analyst to prioritise tasks for clients in the background instead of sustaining “the illusion that the service was automated and functioning 24/7”. (Crawford, 2021, pp.65).
Fauxtomation and Employee Exploitation
Fauxtomation is defined as “automated systems [that] appear to do work previously performed by humans, but in fact the system merely coordinates human work in the background” (Crawford, 2021, pp.66). In the current system, tech employees, also known as systems analysts, are tasked to create user profiles and accounts for new hires, grant them access to Sharepoint sites and request software and equipment. The analyst often has to prepare this package in advance and meet with new hires on their first day. This ensures that new hires are on-boarded properly. New hires in return feel welcome and feel supported and have direct contact to ask follow up questions to. While all these additional steps or “ghost work” (2021) takes a lot of time and accuracy. Any analyst can be trained to do this, and if for whatever reason the analyst(s) are injured and are unable to complete their work, or is unable to meet the deadlines, managers have the option to replace them with another analyst who is younger and faster. This is especially true when all the steps to on-board a new hire can be documented in a self-serve based learning management system such as Articulate or Rise 360 which can be integrated to the industry’s Moodle platform called Learning Hub. It replaces the tasks from the analyst and places the learning responsibility to the customer, who simply register for the course and learn at their own pace. It is very similar to the self-serve booths a customer can use in a grocery store where the customer can eliminate interaction and learn how to complete the tasks, pay and check out items by themselves. Staff, in return, can ensure that there is no theft and that item codes are keyed in properly. In the same context, analysts have a different role and can do this in the safety of their own home. Their task is now to ensure that the course content is up to date and that new hires can navigate the course in a timely manner (30 minutes or less).
Analysis of Benefits and Challenges
A challenge that technical staff can face is that analysts can be paid less when this solution is implemented since it “maximises financial returns”(Crawford, 2021) for the organisation's investors. The cost of maintaining a website is cheaper than maintaining the cost of an employee. It seems like employees are replaceable with automation and training can be streamlined. However, the positive benefit is that it still takes resources to maintain an online course. For analysts, their role just simply changed. The greatest benefit is that it eliminates travel time and parking fees needed to travel from one site to another. It also increases sustainability for the environment. Carbon exhaust is produced by the vehicles each time an analyst makes a trip on-site to provide orientation. While it takes server space and energy to house a learning module, learners only have to do this once. Completing a 30 minute course requires less energy than being stuck in traffic for hours. It negates the risk of harm for an analyst due to poor road side conditions. It also eliminates the cost for teacher training since most of the orientation material is documented in the Learning Hub module. Educatiors / analysts simply have to update the course material to match the rapid development of technologies. Learners, when provided with the link to the Moodle module, can assess the course material 24/7. In case the course breaks down or they are unable to complete the material due to technical reasons (weak internet connection, not connected to a health authority network, etc.), they have the option to call or chat with IT or service desk, which are also available 24/7 to help them set up remotely. They are also able to order specialised equipment such as laptops or mobile devices, once approved by their own manager, and expedite the request when needed. This gives power and confidence to the learner and provides them with 21 century skills to learn on their own and to be able to complete tasks without any hand holding from educators or mentors to constantly be by their side (Woolgar, 1990). To ensure usability and the best human computer interaction possible between the learner and the system, Articulate has an intuitive user interface that learners can seamlessly navigate through to gain the knowledge needed without having the need to adapt or get distracted by the technology (Nielson, 2018).
Prototype
I have created a prototype on a popular course topic of Sharepoint. The mode of delivery has already been pitched and is approved by my manager. While the content is under ongoing development, the usability and documentation of the analyst’s “ghost work” are present.
Reference
Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI. Yale University Press. (Chapter 2: Labour)
Nielsen, J. (2018). User Testing: Why & How. NNGroup. Youtube. https://youtu.be/v8JJrDvQDF4
Woolgar, S. (1990). Configuring the user: The case of usability trials. The Sociological Review, 38(1, Suppl.), S58-S99.