Regulating Workplace Technology: Extending the Agenda

The development of workplace technology has tended to reflect the interests of
employers in promoting profitability, whereas worker concerns have been acknowledged
in legislation that restricts the most egregious of employer practices. This chapter
explores that history and the current legal and regulatory framework, which is explicable
with reference to resistance. However, it is suggested that we could also view technology
in the workplace as potentially enabling of workers, enhancing their capabilities in
overcoming disability, building voice, and accessing learning opportunities. Extending the
agenda for regulation in this way has the potential to offer a more positive picture of
possibilities in relation to technology in the workplace and more could yet be done to
realize these.