Technology sets the pace.
People set the standard.AGENCY brings digital health and safety to the workplace.
Technology is transforming how we work, learn, and communicate. No institution protects or prepares working adults for the impact on their lives and livelihoods.Our framework supports employers to pioneer responsible adoption, ethical application, and critical evaluation of online tools and information. When business leads, whole communities benefit.
No health and safety equivalent exists for the tech we increasingly trust and depend on.
Modern workplaces are adapting in real time to intelligent and autonomous systems running on opaque algorithms. Some are introduced as business solutions, others are integrated automatically into the software and devices we already use.
Social media platforms arrived without the testing or ethical guardrails we would expect for any other revolutionary innovation, and AI is now reaching every corner of society on the same terms. Employers leading this new standard embrace the opportunities but give equal weight to the hidden costs.
Judgement
Social media echo chambers narrow the perspectives that shape decisions from hiring to procurement. The government's AI Skills Boost programme trains workers in partnership with the very firms that profit from the technology. Technical proficiency is not a substitute for the independent judgement required to recognise hidden influence and motivation.
Attention
Our phones and feeds are designed to capture and hold attention. AI tools encourage summaries and shortcuts. Constant notifications create a cycle of reactive urgency. Deep thinking, sustained focus and trust in our instincts are skills that erode without intentional use.
Wellbeing
Constant connectivity, information overload, and uncertainty about job security intensify stress and anxiety in the workplace. Lines between professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred, with our devices carrying industry news, work emails and meetings alongside family chats, hobbies and life admin. Online bullying, harassment, tech-fuelled addictions and feelings of inadequacy and loneliness are hidden and unspoken concerns for ourselves and our loved ones that compound the pressures employees bring to work.
Literacy
Most working adults now make decisions based on information shaped by algorithms, AI assistants and synthetic media. Ofcom's research confirms this shift, finding that we increasingly rely on AI-generated search results, but struggle to distinguish what is reliable from what is sponsored or fabricated. The cost of a workforce that cannot critically evaluate online content has consequences across every business, from internal reporting to published communications.
Polarisation
Algorithmic feeds reinforce existing beliefs and prioritise outrage and emotionally charged content, serving conflicting versions of the world to colleagues working side by side. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 42% of employees would rather switch departments than report to a manager with different values, and 34% would reduce effort for a project lead with opposing beliefs, directly affecting retention, collaboration and culture.
Compliance
The UK Online Safety Act, the EU AI Act and the Data (Use and Access) Act have created a new legal landscape that most organisations are still responding to. Our legal services team helps employers update their policies and practices, address compliance gaps, and challenge arrangements that are no longer fit for purpose.
The AGENCY framework works like sunscreen.
Exposure to online risks is universal, but how each individual and organisation responds depends on knowledge, tolerances and circumstances. Consistent application builds healthy digital habits and a layer of protection and preparedness that strengthens as technology advances.
Embedding Understanding. Build foundations for making sense of the modern information landscape. How algorithms work, what motivates misinformation, the importance of privacy, and what AI can actually do.
Anchoring to Reality. Embed individual resilience against addictive design, provocation, manufactured urgency and hidden incentives, keeping people rooted in their own needs, values and judgement.
Questioning Everything. Critical thinking in the digital age is a core professional skill. Develop the discipline to interrogate online content and AI outputs, and weigh genuine benefits against hidden costs.
Moving with Intent. Not every tool is worth adopting. Choose technology wisely, establish clear and responsible policies and processes, maintain healthy digital habits, and avoid unnecessary risk.
Exercising Ownership. Translate awareness into action. Manage security, reclaim focus, reduce digital clutter, and take responsibility for what your organisation consumes and contributes online.
The Return on AGENCY. A workforce that thinks independently, communicates credibly, and operates with integrity. Confidence, clarity and resilience that stays with people long after the working day ends.
Next Public Workshop
Building Digital Defences
June 2026 · Wallace Space, London
Confidence, Capability and Compliance.
Trusted employers act with AGENCY to:
- set shared standards for responsible technology
- build skills and capacity across teams
- reduce risk without stifling innovation
- support wellbeing, focus and sound judgement at work and beyond
- share knowledge and shape best practice across industries
Training
Workshops and programmes covering each step of the framework, from lunchtime talks to interactive simulations.
Explore Training→Resources
Self-assessments, intelligence briefings and practical tools that turn the framework into everyday practice.
Explore Resources→Legal
Specialist advice on evolving technology law and regulation, for businesses, civil society organisations and individuals.
Explore Legal→Jenni Sargent
Founder/Director
jen@techagency.ukJenni spent over a decade at the centre of the global response to misinformation. As Managing Director of First Draft, a non-profit operating in London, New York and Sydney, she trained thousands of journalists, human rights defenders and corporate leaders to navigate a rapidly changing information environment. She recently completed a Masters in Law.
In January 2020, Jenni gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies, arguing that platforms must be held accountable for their impact on society. She maintains this conviction, but founded AGENCY on the belief that meaningful change will be driven by people making informed, independent choices about how they use and increasingly depend on digital technologies. Employers are uniquely placed to educate and support working adults at scale.
Join the network
Work with AGENCY
A growing UK network of trainers, consultants, mediators and legal practitioners working at the forefront of how technology is reshaping organisations, communities and the law.
Be part of building the standard.
AGENCY is building the digital health and safety standard for today's information environment. The AGENCY Circle is open only to organisations in the Pioneer Programme. It is a network of employers who build digital resilience in their teams and help to shape what responsible progress means for their sector.
We are recruiting 8–10 organisations to the AGENCY CIRCLE. One per sector in the UK.