Abstract
Intelligent workplace systems that support well-being offer the potential to reduce stress and burnout, promote physical activity, or increase creativity and collaboration while at work. However, such systems rely on the collection of sensitive personal information that can pose significant privacy risks to users. In this chapter, we investigate how user perceptions of privacy vary with privacy interface designs and framing scenarios. In a user study with 60 participants, we present participants with four privacy interfaces based on different privacy frameworks and study how perceptions of comfort and control vary depending on the owner of the sensing technology and the user’s relationship with that owner. We find that participants express greater comfort and control with interfaces that foreground contextual information and provide relationship-based access control. Moreover, participants display lower feelings of comfort and control when the technology is deployed company-wide or by a manager with whom they have a negative relationship. Concerningly, we find that interfaces based on technical privacy metrics are poorly understood and have the potential to promote a false sense of security. Taken together, our findings have implications for the design of privacy interfaces and can inform future large-scale studies on privacy attitudes in the workplace.
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Appendix
Appendix
1.1 1. Framing Scenarios
1.1.1 1.1 Company-Oriented
You are an employee at a large tech company called SearchCo. The company has recently started a pilot program to improve employees’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow employees to manage the privacy of this data, the company has created an interface where employees can control what data the company is allowed to analyze.
1.1.2 1.2 Team-Oriented
You are an engineer on the News App team at a large tech company called SearchCo. Your team (the News App team) has recently started a pilot program to improve team members’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow team members to manage the privacy of this data, the News App team has created an interface where employees can control what data the team is allowed to analyze.
1.1.3 1.3 Manager-Oriented (Positive)
You are an engineer on a small eight-person team, and you have a very positive, strong relationship with your manager, Jamie. You’ve worked with Jamie for 2 years already, and you trust that they make great decisions for the team.
Jamie has recently started a pilot program to improve team members’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow team members to manage the privacy of this data, Jamie has created an interface where employees can control what data can be analyzed.
1.1.4 1.4 Manager-Oriented (Negative)
You are an engineer on a small eight-person team, and you have a very negative, strained relationship with your manager, Jamie. You’ve worked with Jamie for 2 years already, and you’ve witnessed them making questionable decisions for the team.
Jamie has recently started a pilot program to improve team members’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow team members to manage the privacy of this data, Jamie has created an interface where employees can control what data can be analyzed.
1.1.5 1.5 Teammate-Oriented (Positive)
You are an engineer on a small eight-person team, and you have a very positive, strong relationship with your manager and teammates. You’ve worked on your team for 2 years already, and you trust that your manager and teammates all make great decisions.
One of your teammates, Jamie, has recently started a pilot program to improve team members’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow team members to manage the privacy of this data, Jamie has created an interface where employees can control what data can be analyzed.
1.1.6 1.6 Teammate-Oriented (Negative)
You are an engineer on a small eight-person team, and although you have a very positive, strong relationship with your manager and most teammates, you have a very negative, strained relationship with one of your teammates, Jamie. You’ve worked with this teammate for 2 years already, and you’ve witnessed them making questionable decisions for the team.
Jamie has recently started a pilot program to improve team members’ general well-being by collecting data using work-issued devices like laptops and phones. To allow team members to manage the privacy of this data, Jamie has created an interface where employees can control what data can be analyzed.
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Lam, M.S., Jörke, M., King, J., Haghighi, N., Landay, J.A. (2023). User Perceptions of Privacy Interfaces in the Workplace. In: Meinel, C., Leifer, L. (eds) Design Thinking Research. Understanding Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36103-6_6
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