COST OF DIGITAL CONVENIENCE: CONTROL, SURVEILLANCE, AND WORKPLACE DIGNITY

In this research, I undertake a critical examination of the pervasive integration of digital technologies within contemporary workplaces, a phenomenon that has fundamentally restructured the organization, monitoring, and governance of labor. While algorithmic Human Resource Management (HRM) systems are frequently marketed as objective conduits of efficiency, my investigation reveals a more troubling reality. I contend that the increasing reliance on data-driven decision-making and ubiquitous surveillance has exacted a profound cost on workplace dignity, autonomy, and fundamental labor rights—consequences that remain inadequately addressed in both academic and corporate discourse. I navigate the "digital convenience" narrative to expose how algorithmic HRM transforms the nature of control and data governance, particularly within global supply chains. My approach is rooted in an interdisciplinary framework, synthesizing Digital Taylorism, Institutional Theory, and Cultural Theory. By adopting a qualitative, sector-specific methodology, I scrutinize the unique pressures faced in e-commerce, logistics, fast fashion, and business process outsourcing (BPO). I move beyond a generalized view of technology to offer a differentiated analysis of worker profiles, drawing on a comprehensive review of scholarly literature, policy documents, and institutional reports. My findings demonstrate that algorithmic HRM does not affect all labor equally; rather, it facilitates industry-specific modes of dignity destruction. I observe that while warehouse and logistics personnel are subjected to rigorous physical surveillance and exhausting productivity quotas, garment workers face a digital control that intensifies their precarity. Furthermore, my analysis of call center environments reveals an intrusive monitoring of behavioral and emotional labor, while platform workers navigate a deceptive autonomy governed by opaque ranking systems. I place particular emphasis on the Global South, where I argue that regulatory gaps and existing cultural power imbalances exacerbate these technological harms. Ultimately, I posit that algorithmic HRM is far from an unbiased innovation. Instead, I characterize it as a structural mechanization of control designed to prioritize extraction over human dignity. Concluding with a normative call to action, I advocate for a rights-based data governance model and a reimagined ethical HRM. I argue that these frameworks are essential to restoring transparency, ensuring human-in-the-loop oversight, and safeguarding the inherent dignity of the individual within the digitally regulated global economy.