Now the boss can spy on you 24/7! Firms fitting workers with electronic trackers
A HIGH street bank is among companies that have started monitoring employees with tracker devices, it was claimed yesterday.
Staff are being fitted with a gadget that checks how well they work with colleagues and even keeps tabs on their tone of voice and activity levels.
The credit card-sized device is one of a range that bosses are using to monitor workers – in some cases for 24 hours a day.
Supporters of the technology believe it will help develop a more productive workforce but privacy campaigners warn of an increasingly Big Brother society, turning ‘humans into robots’.
It emerged yesterday that at least four British organisations, including a major bank, are using ‘sociometric badges’, which are worn around the neck.
They contain a microphone for real-time voice analysis, an accelerometer to check physical activity, a Bluetooth sensor to scan for proximity to others and tools that track the wearer around the workplace.
They have been created by US company, Humanyze, which says firms can now ‘quantify social interactions that were previously unmeasurable’.
Humanyze’s Ben Waber said: ‘It’s looking at the amount of time you talk, who you talk to, your tone of voice, activity levels, how often you interrupt.
‘You can get very detailed information on how people are communicating ... and can make predictions about how productive and happy they are at work.’
He told The Sunday Times that employees had to consent to wearing the badges and 90 per cent did. The tone, not the content, of conversations was recorded.
The badges are understood to be used by the consulting firm Deloitte, parts of the NHS and a leading UK retailer, according to the newspaper. Mr Waber refused to name the bank involved in the UK. Lloyds, HSBC, Santander and NatWest/RBS said they were not working with Humanyze. Barclays declined to comment yesterday.
In addition, pensions consultancy Punter Southall, has given 850 employees wearable fitness trackers to monitor their physical activity and sleep patterns.
John Dean, a director, said: ‘We do fitness challenges once or twice a year. The effect is quite high – people suddenly get shamed into not taking the lift. They wear it 24/7 and the employer can see the data.
‘We wouldn’t use them to monitor employees, although if they don’t walk very much you could potentially bring that up.’