When Wearable Tech Goes Wrong in the Workplace

We write a lot about wearable tech on this blog, but this is a perspective I’ve never considered before today. Imagine this – your boss suddenly requires everyone to wear a device so he can track your productivity and location at all times. You don’t think this is possible? You might be surprised to learn that it’s already happening. In my opinion, this is when wearable tech goes wrong.

I recently wrote an article here called 7 Tips for Making Your Office an Irresistible Place to Work. Creating an environment built on trust and mutual respect is critical if you want to attract top talent. Any company that requires their employees to wear a monitoring device has ventured over into the unacceptable category.

I never thought about wearable tech being used in this way until I read an article today on NewScientist called Wearable Tech Lets Boss Track Your Work, Rest and Play.

According to that article, a UK-based grocery store chain called Tesco requires employees to wear armbands to track where they are. Bank of America has even experimented with this practice.

I’m surprised about this use of wearable tech since it goes against the evolution of work and where it’s headed. A decade ago, we all had a “work life” and a “home life.” These days, it’s morphing into one. It’s more of an entire lifestyle.

We work at home, we work at the office, we work during the day, and we sometimes work during the night. It’s all about fitting work into our schedules whenever we can amongst the other things in our lives. Instead of achieving a work/life balance, it’s more about achieving a healthy work/life integration.

Being required to wear a monitoring device during all these times implies we would have to accept having zero privacy. If you are interested in reading more about this topic, I recommend clicking over to the NewScientist article I’ve linked above and below. Hopefully this practice will never become popular. It illustrates a lack of trust and lack of respect.