Engaging automation at work: A literature review

Automation pervades workplaces in an increasing pace and its effects on work practices and roles are far-reaching. Work tasks are typically automated with efficiency, effectiveness and safety in mind, but less attention is paid on the user experience aspects. As the amount of direct human control over technology is often decreased with automation, the human aspect of those systems might seem less essential and thus human-system interaction designers may not be consulted when automation is designed. Yet, fully autonomous and unmanned systems are rare, as humans often still have to monitor, intervene, maintain and control the automated environments – be it on-site or remotely. This paper discusses the need for better interaction design of automated systems with a focus on engaging user experiences in work environments. Results of a systematic literature on engaging user experience design in automation solutions used at work revealed that experiential human-automation interaction design is a neglected research topic. Therefore, we call for more research on automation design that improves not only efficiency, i.e., the pragmatic aspects of user experience, but also employee engagement and other emotional aspects of user experience. It is time for a turn to the experiential to take place also in the work automation context.