Why that work ID card may have had its (micro)chips…

WORKERS at a US tech firm are having microchips installed under their skin so they can clock in by waving their arm.

Staff at Three Square Market, in River Falls, Wisconsin, will be able to buy food in the canteen and open doors with the chip, which is picked up by a reader using radio waves.

They can also log in to their computer without their password.

Three Square Market is the first firm in the US to use the chip, which was approved by regulators in 2004. The programme is not mandatory but so far more than 50 out of 80 employees have volunteered, despite the privacy concerns.

The chip costs $300 and is the size of a grain of rice. It is inserted with a needle between the thumb and forefinger and is said to hurt only ‘a bit’.

Three Square Market chief Todd Westby said the chip would not track employees.

It uses radio-frequency identification technology, which is also used to microchip pets.

A firm in Sweden is said to have chipped some of its workers and Mr Westby said the response among his staff had exceeded his expectations.

Firm software engineer Sam Bengtson said: ‘In the next five to ten years, this is going to be more normal.’

But sales director Melissa Timmins was hesitant. ‘I’m a little nervous about implanting something into my body,’ she said.