New research from Italy’s University of Parma delves into the social sustainability of RFID technology. The study introduces a novel framework for evaluating how RFID benefits individuals and society, offering a crucial new tool for assessing the “People Return on Investment” (PROI) of an RFID deployment. The following story was submitted by University of Parma’s Prof. Giuseppe Vignali and Roberta Stefanini, Phd.

While the economic and environmental benefits of RFID projects are well-documented, their social impacts often go unexamined. With sustainability targets becoming not just a consideration but a core business mandate, understanding how the technology contributes to social initiatives is vital.

The team at the University of Parma’s RFID Lab set about creating a method and a tool to analyze and determine the impact of RFID deployments on employees’ working conditions. The research methodology, used to develop the framework, employed two key questionnaire indicators and was validated through a real-world case study involving a fashion retail company. Employees from both retail stores and headquarters, all daily users of RFID technology, responded to the questionnaire.

Prof. Rizzi Presentation

The research was presented by Prof. Antonio Rizzi, RFID lab head and Founder, at RFID Journal Live! In Vegas last May

The results clearly show that RFID integration makes people more productive, empowered, motivated and fulfilled in their daily jobs. Notably, nearly all employees utilizing RFID in their day-to-day tasks would recommend its adoption to friends and colleagues.

RFID Boosts Employee Well-being

Advanced technologies have the potential to significantly transform job roles and activities. By introducing technological innovations into the workplace, organizations can enable employees to take on more rewarding tasks. This shift facilitates a move from repetitive to higher-value activities, ultimately fostering a stronger sense of personal growth, job fulfillment, and overall satisfaction. The University of Parma’s research findings clearly prove this to be true also in the case of RFID technology.

The research’s framework and PROI evaluation were based on two main indicators collected from a questionnaire given to 80 employees. The first indicator, an adaptation of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), measured how likely employees are to recommend RFID implementations. The results were positive, indicating strong social recommendation for the RFID system.

When asked “would you recommend the system to a friend/colleague” (on a scale from 0-10), 75% of respondents were classified as “promoters” (rating 9 or 10), actively recommending the system. Another 19% were “passives” (rating 7 or 8), while only 6% were “detractors” (rating 0-6). This resulted in an NPS of 69%, clearly demonstrating widespread and high satisfaction with the technology.

TOPSIS Results

The second indictor is an analytic index, based on a revised Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Each of the 80 employees were asked to answer 10 questions rating RFID’s influence (on a scale 0-10) across four key areas: empowerment, enrichment, engagement, and manage & control.

The results revealed that most of the respondents were very satisfied with the RFID system. They highlighted how it made their work better (67,5%), boosted their productivity (63%), and even cut down on errors/mistakes (59%). The respondents mentioned that the system made their jobs more satisfying (50%). They felt more connected with their colleagues, offering and getting more support (74%), which also helped improve customer service (65%).

Crucially, most respondents agreed that the RFID system had helped them grow professionally. They picked up new skills and technologies (74%), moving from more mundane tasks to more valuable work (61%). Plus, many said the system improved how resources were managed and gave a real lift to their control over operations (61%).

The methods employed, NPS and TOPSIS, offer two different views. NPS is a synteticm, easy to apply methodology, generally indicates if employees would recommend the technology, showing their overall willingness for referrals. TOPSIS provides a more detailed look, showing the specific impact of RFID on different topics, namely empowerment, engagement, enrichment, and management and control. The findings from the retail case study strongly supported the validity of the proposed framework, developed to be applied not only to retail companies but to any organization implementing RFID technology.

Benefiting Planet and People

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is a vital framework for businesses today. It helps companies reduce risks, build a stronger reputation, and earn the trust of both employees and stakeholders.

The University of Parma research fills a gap in existing studies which overlook how RFID can impact social sustainability. By focusing on this area, the study complements the analyses of economic and environmental sustainability, offering a more complete picture of how RFID systems contribute to overall sustainability. Unlike many technologies that require trade-offs between economic, environmental, social, and ethical factors, RFID proves to have a positive impact on all four dimensions simultaneously.

Indeed, RFID has a demonstrated history of yielding economic returns. Thanks to reduced shrinkage, losses, decreased transportation caused by errors and stock reduction, the technology also proves to reduce carbon emissions (as discussed in the article Measuring RFID’s Environmental Benefits by Trees Spared, 2023). By combating counterfeited products, mitigating the parallel market, reducing theft and ensuring accurate inventory data for financial reporting, RFID also aids companies in adhering to ethical standards.

“Embracing RFID shouldn’t just be a business decision” underlines Prof. Rizzi. “It’s a strategic move towards a more sustainable, equitable, and profitable future. RFID economic, environmental, social and ethical impacts present a significant opportunity for businesses to align their technological investments with their foundational values and ESG goals, showcasing that RFID benefits profit, planet, people, and principles alike!”