Regulating wellbeing in the brave new quantified workplace

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to lay out the conceptual issues arising alongside the rise of sensory technologies in workplaces designed to improve wellness and productivity.
Design/methodology/approach: This is a text based conceptual paper. Our approach is to throw light on some of the emerging issues with the introduction of wearable self-tracking technologies in workplaces.
Findings: The paper indicates that scholars will need to put ethical issues at the heart of research on sensory tracking technologies in workplaces that aim to regulate employee behaviour via wellness initiatives.
Originality/value: This is an original article. Since there is very little scholarly research in this area, it is important to begin to consider the implications of sensory technology in workplaces linked to wellness initiatives, given the probable impact it will have on work design and appraisal systems.