Company offers to chip employees

People could use it to scan into building

Welcome to the future? A Wisconsin technology company is offering its employees microchip implants that can be used to scan into the building and purchase food at work. Whether to get a chip is up to the employee.

Three Square Market, a company that provides technology for break-room or micro markets, has over 50 employees who plan to have the devices implanted, Minnesota station KSTP-TV reported. The tiny chip, which uses RFID technology or radio-frequency identification, can be implanted between the thumb and forefinger “within seconds,” according to a statement from the company.

“It’s the next thing that’s inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it,” Three Square Market Chief Executive Officer Todd Westby told the station.

The company, which is based in River Falls, envisions the rice-sized microchip allowing employees to easily pay for items and access the building and their computers all with a scan of their hand.

“We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals,” Westby said in a company statement. “Eventually, this technology will become standardized allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc.”

And while microchipping employees may sound like something out of a horror film, the company is partnering with Swedish company BioHax International, which already has many “chipped” employees.

Employees are not required to get the microchips, and Westby told the station there is no GPS tracking.