‘From fat and frazzled to fit and happy’: governing the unhealthy employee through quantification and wearable technologies

Fitbits are one of an increasing number of wearable devices that are being used in workplace wellness programmes to track steps taken, stairs climbed, distance walked, calories burned, hours slept, and more. In this paper I examine Fitbit Health Solutions (FHS), a subset of the larger Fitbit, Inc., that is devoted to uses of Fitbit devices in workplace wellness programs. Using digital methods to collect documents pertaining to workplace wellness and FHS, as well as interviews with experts who have worked in a professional capacity to bring Fitbits into the workplace, the goal of this paper is to reflect on the increasing ubiquity of quantification and surveillance in employee health initiatives. Drawing on the Foucauldian tool of governmentality analysis, I excavate how these forms of ‘government at a distance’ construct employees as unfit and how quantification is mobilised to characterise and address that problem. First, I discuss the creation of identity categories of fit and unfit employees. Second, I describe how quantification provides a path to fitness for those needing improvement. Third, I explore how quantification and other means of measurement are used in the evaluation of programs and in selling the ‘story’ that Fitbits are a solid return on investment. Finally, I consider the ethical implications of these quantification initiatives, and consider the future of these technologies in workplaces.