Can Digital Workers Switch Off?

This panel discussion, taking place at the University of Stirling campus, will explore the future of work and its implications for workers. 

As the boundaries between working lives and lives outside of work become blurred by working from home, and various forms of ‘digital work’, questions remain about the rights and abilities of workers to ‘switch off’. These questions take place in a context of concerns about productivity in the UK as well as the emergence of new technologies to monitor the performance of employees. The purpose of this event is to explore these issues in greater depth from a variety of perspectives. 

The event will begin with introduction to some of the key issues shaping the future of work. There will then be some brief discussion of the latest research that is taking place at the University of Stirling on the transformation of work that is the foundation for this event. 

There will then be a 45-minute panel discussion with contributions from each of our speakers. The panel discussion, bringing together experts from the University of Stirling and contributors at the centre of debates around the transformation of workplaces generated by technology, will explore not only how work has changed but what changes we can expect in the future and the implications of this for workers. 

Following the panel discussion, there will then be a 30-minute Question and Answer session with our panel members where event attendees will be able to ask questions as well as share their own perspectives of the changes taking place in the world of work.  

The Question-and-Answer session will then be followed by some brief closing remarks by the host to highlight some of the key learning to be taken from our discussions.   

In this event contributors will explore how technology is changing the world of work. The event will focus on for example the ways in which technology has transformed our understanding of what we mean by work and the  ‘workplace’ when many people find that their job has been (and continues to be) changed by the impact of new technology and that the ‘workplace’ can sometimes be their own home or a ‘hybrid’ mixture of working from home and working in an office. These changes raise key issues about if, when and how workers can really ‘switch off’, which is one of the questions to be explored at this event.  

Questions about workers being able to ‘switch off’ are taking place at a time when new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are becoming increasingly important to monitor the performance and productivity of employees across a variety of workplaces and sectors. Some of the opportunities and challenges of these issues will also be explore in our discussions.  

Those attending the event will have the opportunity to gain insights from those at the forefront of these debates and the implications of these technological transformations for employers, employees and policymakers. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions and share their perspectives on a subject that is central to the future of our working lives.  

The event is being led by Dr Tom Montgomery, Lecturer in Work & Organisations at Stirling Business School. 

Open to all.

While this event is open to anyone with an interest in the future of work, there are some groups who will find the event of particular interest. This includes young people at the beginning of their working lives who are seeking to understand some of the implications of technological transformation for their future experiences as an employee. Given the focus of the event, the discussions taking place will also be highly relevant for employers and employer representative organisations, trade unions, third sector organisations engaged in employment issues, HR practitioners and those working in areas of policymaking that connect with key issues around the future of work and its implications for workers.   

1 PM, Tuesday 4 November 2025