Ethical Considerations of Extended Reality in the Workplace

As extended reality (XR) technologies are increasingly adopted in workplaces, ethical concerns, such as privacy, equity, and surveillance, must be addressed to ensure their responsible deployment. The current mapping of this research space has narrowly focused on issues, such as privacy or safety, failing to provide a comprehensive view of ethical challenges across different XR technologies and workplace contexts. We surveyed 39 papers and contextualize them using the widely used National Institute of Standards and Technology artificial intelligence ethical framework along the dimensions of privacy and surveillance, accountability and governance, transparency and explainability, fairness and inclusivity, and safety and psychological well-being. Our findings highlight that most papers largely focus on conceptual frameworks over practical implementations in addition to the lack of empirical validation of ethical frameworks and insufficient attention to underrepresented groups.