FW-HTF-P: Connectivity and the Future of Remote Work

新冠肺炎大流行导致了意想不到的、前所未有的远程工作水平。迫切需要了解与通过连接、技术采用和设计以及终身学习创建一支充满活力、灵活的员工队伍相关的关键问题。这一人类-技术前沿(FW-HTF)规划资助项目的未来工作将带来新的知识，以优化现有和新兴技术的使用，并确定将进一步改善远程工作和工人体验的技术差距。该项目团队将通过开发一种动态生态模型来促进科学进步，该模型用于解释人类如何与其他人和设备远程执行工作。这一模式将有可能在不久和可预见的将来指导远程工作的研究和设计以及新技术的开发。项目团队将使用这个项目的成果来为设计一个完整的FW-HTF研究方案提供参考。该项目将在终身学习、多层次的获取和包容以及对工作和生产力的根本动态观点的背景下，解决影响未来远程工作的问题，从而促进国家繁荣和福利。这个FW-HTF项目利用社会科学家、工程师和卫生专业人员的专业知识来规划一个动态的生态模型，该模型将在不断扩大和发展的工作环境中最大化收益并最大限度地减少问题。项目目标包括：1)确定正在或可以远程完成的工作的特点；2)创建灵活地满足雇主和远程工作人员需求的生产率衡量标准；3)确定影响远程工作人员的主要精神和身体压力；以及4)确定当前和未来使远程工作成为可能的主要技术。该项目使用混合方法顺序设计方法来实现这些目标。项目小组将首先对具有全国代表性的皮尤大流行期间工作模式调查的二级数据进行分析。根据二次分析的结果，他们将与经理一起举办研讨会，并与来自不同规模和行业(例如教育、服务、制造业)的公司的工人进行访谈，这些讨论将涉及类似的主题，但从每个小组的角度来看。最后，该团队将开发一种调查工具，通过密歇根大学的消费者态度调查(领先经济指标的一个组成部分)对具有全国代表性的样本进行管理。美国正在进行一项自然实验，这项实验可以为如何从生产率和员工幸福感的角度优化远程工作的潜力提供见解。这项计划拨款将为进一步的研究提供基础，以利用这一自然实验造福于国家健康、繁荣和福祉。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unpredicted and unprecedented levels of remote working. There is an urgency for understanding the critical issues related to creating a dynamic, flexible workforce through connectivity, technology adoption and design, and life-long learning. This Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) Planning Grant project will lead to new knowledge for optimizing the use of existing and emerging technology as well as identify technology gaps that will further improve remote work and the experience of the worker. The project team will promote the progress of science by developing a dynamic ecological model for interpreting how humans interact with other people and equipment to perform jobs remotely. This model will have potential to guide the study and design of remote work and the development of new technology for the near and foreseeable future. The project team will use outcomes from this project to inform the design of a full FW-HTF research proposal. This project will advance the national prosperity and welfare by addressing issues impacting future remote work within the context of life-long learning, access and inclusion at multiple levels, and a fundamentally dynamic perspective on work and productivity. This FW-HTF project leverages the expertise of social scientists, engineers, and health professionals to plan a dynamic ecological model that will maximize benefits and minimize problems in the ever-expanding and evolving landscape of work. Project objectives include: 1) Identify characteristics of work that are or can be done remotely; 2) Create measures of productivity that flexibly meet the employers’ and remote workers’ needs; 3) Identify the major mental and physical stressors affecting remote workers; and 4) Identify current and future major technologies that make remote work possible. The project uses a mixed-methods sequential design approach to accomplish these goals. The project team will begin with secondary data analysis of the nationally representative Pew Survey of Work Patterns During The Pandemic. Informed by the results of the secondary analysis, they will conduct workshops with managers and interviews with workers from companies varying in size and industry (e.g. education, service, manufacturing), which will touch on similar topics, but from each groups’ perspective. Finally, the team will develop a survey instrument that will be administered to a nationally representative sample through the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumer Attitudes ( a component of the Leading Economic Indicators). The nation is in the midst of a natural experiment that can provide insights to how it may be possible to optimize the potential of remote work in terms of productivity and worker well-being. This planning grant will provide the foundation for further research that can capitalize on that natural experiment to the benefit of national health, prosperity, and welfare.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.