Research at TRAMA
A continuing intersectional research programme on workers’ health under algorithmic management, with an initial focus on mental health.
The work behind the technology
A performance score can affect access to tasks. A scheduling system can change how much notice someone receives before a shift. A recommendation on a dashboard can influence a manager’s decision.
TRAMA studies these uses of technology as part of the organisation of work, examining the conditions they create and their relationship with mental health.
The record can become a basis for a decision.
An intersectional perspective
Working conditions are shaped by social relations as well as formal job descriptions. Gender, sexuality, racialisation, migration, occupational position and care responsibilities can intersect in how work is experienced.
The programme examines these relationships in context, including how discrimination operates and how access to protection differs. It does not treat identities as a score of individual vulnerability.
Read Crenshaw’s original article
Understanding experiences together and in context.
Different studies, a shared question
Who is exposed to particular forms of algorithmic management? Who can effectively challenge its decisions? How do these experiences relate to mental health?
Each study focuses on the social positions and working conditions relevant to its question. The programme can develop new focuses as workplaces and questions change.
What an inequality can mean
Differences in exposure are distinct from differences in health. People may be allocated to more closely monitored roles or experience different consequences under similar rules.
A formal appeals process may exist while the time, support or security needed to use it are out of reach. Research needs to distinguish these processes and consider variation within groups as well as between them.
Barriers can stand between formal and effective access.
How we interpret evidence
Comparing scores requires evidence that the measures have comparable meanings for the people and time points being studied. Small or uneven samples can leave important differences uncertain; insufficient information does not establish equality. Conclusions must reflect who could participate, including language barriers and recruitment conditions.
An association does not, by itself, demonstrate cause and effect. Learning materials identify published findings and distinguish them from illustrative examples.
The study design determines what we can conclude.
Related research
The IOH Framework examines how social positions shape occupational health. It provides a related conceptual perspective on the distribution of working conditions and protection.