Do you hog office conversations? Or not talk enough? Does your voice squeal Do you sit very still at your desk all day? Or do you fidget under stress? Where do you go in the office? How much time do you spend there? To whom do you talk?
An employee badge can now measure all this and more, all with the goal of giving employers better information to evaluate performance. Think of it as biometrics meets the boss.
A Boston company has taken technology developed at MIT and turned it into special badges that hang around your neck on a lanyard. Each has two microphones doing real-time voice analysis, and each comes with sensors that follow where you are in the office, with motion detectors to record how much you move. The beacons tracking your movements are omitted from bathroom locations, to give you some privacy.
[...] Those concerned about their privacy might be alarmed by the arrival of such badges. But Humanyze says it doesn't record the content of what people say, just how they say it. And the boss doesn't get to look at individuals' personal data. It is also up to the employee to decide whether they want to participate.
"Those are things we hammer home," Waber said. "If you don't give people choice, if you don't aggregate instead of showing individual data, any benefit would be dwarfed by the negative reaction people will have of you coming in with this very sophisticated sensor."
[...] Waber said the company is careful not to divulge personal data to the employer, preferring instead to stick with broad analytics. Employees get to see their own data, but managers do not get to identify the employee with the specific data.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Funny) by turgid on Monday September 12 2016, @12:18PM
Record numbers have been enrolling in sign language classes. The Society for the Deaf is celebrating at the solidarity shown by hitherto indifferent citizens.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday September 12 2016, @01:27PM
Record numbers have been enrolling in sign language classes.
That will get you fired too. FTFA : "Do you ........... not talk enough?"
I'm thinking there might be an up side to this if it makes the verbal diarrhea generators I can hear around me in this open plan office STFU.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday September 12 2016, @02:10PM
So it's not just me. :-)
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @01:44PM
Furbees will become popular again as a place to hang your badge.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Monday September 12 2016, @09:12PM
Where do you work where they didn't install cameras already? I thought this was to make sure they got the audio, too.