Hawthorne Effect

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

The Hawthorne Effect is a psychological phenomenon where individuals temporarily change or improve their behavior because they know they are being observed. It originated from workplace studies at the Hawthorne Works factory in the 1920s and 1930s, where worker productivity increased during experiments simply due to the attention received, not the actual changes being tested.

Why it matters

The Hawthorne Effect highlights the importance of perception and attention in workplace behavior. In HR and organizational settings, it serves as a reminder that employees may alter performance when they feel watched or evaluated. This effect has implications for employee engagement, performance reviews, workplace monitoring, and even research validity in HR studies.

How it affects HR

HR must account for the Hawthorne Effect in engagement surveys, pilot programs, and performance monitoring. By designing processes that capture authentic behavior, HR avoids misinterpreting short-term improvements.

Common use cases/Examples

• Employees working harder during performance evaluations or observed audits.
• Engagement survey scores temporarily improving when leadership is visibly attentive.
• Productivity boosts during pilot programs that fade once observation ends.
• Training participants displaying greater enthusiasm when facilitators are present.
• Research studies in organizations accounting for bias introduced by observation.

Examples of companies that encounter it

• Enterprises running engagement studies or workplace experiments may see short-term improvements due to employee awareness of observation.
• Manufacturing and logistics companies piloting new safety protocols often track whether observed behavior persists after supervision decreases.
• SMBs and startups may experience it in small teams where leadership presence strongly influences day-to-day performance.