Regulating algorithmic management to ensure a fairer future for workers
What happens when AI replaces managerial decision making? The work of an interdisciplinary team led by Professor Jeremias Adams-Prassl (Faculty of Law) and Dr Six Silberman (Faculty of Law) has been responding to the rise of algorithmic management (ARM) to automate tasks including the hiring and firing of workers. Their work is shaping employment legislation and helping workers’ rights keep pace as this technology becomes more widely used around the world.
Automated systems are increasingly being used to perform tasks traditionally carried out by human managers, including task assignment, performance evaluation and recruitment. While these advances may aid corporate efficiency, left unchecked they pose a real threat to the labour market and workers rights.
The iManage team, which also includes Aislinn Kelly-Lyth, Halefom H. Abraha, Sangh Rakshita and Bharat Shivan, has developed the first comprehensive policy framework responding to ARM. Their work explores the challenges and potential opportunities presented by ARM, and the implications for legal regulation across a range of jurisdictions.
“The most significant challenge for the project has been working in a rapidly changing – and in some cases contentious – policy environment,” says Prof. Adams-Prassl. “Policymakers are struggling to enforce existing rules, and legislate to cover gaps in those rules, even as new technologies emerge and organisational practices on the ground evolve.”
The team’s research has supported efforts of policy-makers around the world to appropriately regulate algorithmic management. The team has assisted legislators during the development and negotiation of the EU Platform Work Directive, adopted in 2024, and aided the drafting of the UK Trades Union Congress’ Draft AI at Work Bill. They are also actively advising stakeholders in the ongoing negotiations on a possible UN International Labour Organization (ILO) standard on platform work.
Justin Nogarede, senior policy officer at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Future of Work Centre in Brussels said: “Working with the iManage team has helped our team in Brussels convene conversations with policymakers, regulators, and practitioners to build knowledge that is both deeply interdisciplinary and immediately practical. This cross-sectoral work helps drive forward policy and practice to advance human rights in our more and more digitalised world of work.”
Professor Jeremias Adams-Prassl, Aislinn Kelly-Lyth, Dr Halefom Abraha, Dr Six Silberman, Sangh Rakshita, and Bharat Shivan were Highly Commended in the Developing Impact category of the 2025 Social Sciences Impact Awards for regulating AI at work: protecting workers against digital surveillance and control.
Social Sciences Impact Awards 2025 (photo: John Cairns)
