Office gossip
Because the microchip is embedded under the skin, it is an unobtrusive and forgettable monitor. In this respect, it is not alone. Ambient monitors using Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa listen to employees like an invisible, intrusive colleague. You won’t necessarily see them in the office, but they may still be there.
Siri now works with Salesforce to remind employees about meetings and quotas while monitoring their speech. With iOS putting the platform in your pocket, the boundaries of what you call “workplace” and what you can hear there could expand significantly.
Alexa for Business connects shared devices in conference rooms, copy rooms, lobbies, and other shared office spaces with personal devices that sit on your desk or in your home.
Walmart has patented a system that spies on both shoppers and employees in stores: In its patent application, the company stated: "There is a need to monitor sounds emanating from people in a shopping center and determine employee performance based on those sounds."
The ease with which employees engage with the Internet of Things is similar to the sense of inevitability they feel about being monitored. Gartner’s Kropp says that in 2018, 30% of employees said they were comfortable with their company “tracking personal data” about them; up from 10% a few years ago. Add to that the fact that employment contracts typically give iceland number data companies significant power to monitor workers, and whether they like it or not, employees are likely to have to get used to it.
“I honestly think the battle is lost,” says PB Work Solutions’ Brantner. “Employers have a lot of options and few legal restrictions. And it seems like employees have kind of just gotten used to being monitored… They’re signing up for monitoring, using what a Fitbit does, or what your Alexa does, or what your webcam can do.”
Brantner doesn’t foresee any changes in the evolution of workplace monitoring. “It’s definitely going to require some shifts in both the political landscape and the general public’s support, and I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.”
She also notes that there are no federal laws protecting employee privacy, although state legislatures in Arkansas, California, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have passed laws regulating the implantation of microchips in employees. That’s not to say any of those states ban the use of microchips. Arkansas state Rep. Stephen Meeks, who sponsored the state’s bill, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that a blanket ban could be invalidated in court. His bill states that the law “would not prohibit an employer from using alternative, noninvasive technologies designed to track an employee’s movement.”
Humanyze's Waber says: "People want - and deserve - ownership of their data, so in the workplace, employers have a responsibility to inform employees what data is and is not being collected." Waber says he would like to see laws similar to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation passed around the world, although such laws do not prevent employee monitoring, but simply do not tie data to individuals.