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Wearable Tech

Wearable tech – an employer’s dream? Research links wearable devices to boosts in employee productivity and job satisfaction

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By Jessica Davies, News Editor

May 5, 2014 | 2 min read

Researchers have uncovered a possible link between wearable technology and boosts in people’s work productivity and job satisfaction.

The preliminary report, called The Human Cloud At Work: A Study Into The Impact Of Wearable Technologies In The Workplace, surveyed 300 IT decision makers in the UK and US over a month, and marks the second phase of a two-year between Goldsmiths and Rackspace.

Early findings from the research have indicated that employees using wearable devices increased their productivity by 8.5 per cent, while their job satisfaction rose 3.5 per cent.

The researchers will now turn their focus to evaluating the longer-term implications of these results and will extend the duration of the study and its size sample.

The initiative, which is being led by Dr. Chris Brauer of the Institute of Management Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, has indicated that businesses would need to adopt cloud computing to facilitate the growth in wearable tech in the office.

He referred to wearable technology as “arguably the biggest trend” since tablets emerged.

During the preliminary month-long study participants wore three different varieties of wearable tech – GenerActiv (pictured above): a high-velocity accelerometer wristband for measuring activity and movement; a NeuroSky Mindwave, a compact biosensor EEG for monitoring brain activity, and a Lumoback device that acts as activity and posture coach.

"These results show organisations and employees need now to be developing and implementing strategies for introducing and harnessing the power of wearables in the workplace," Dr. Brauer said.

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