Investment bank employees are being watched at Barclays of London. And they're not happy about it.
Workers were shocked to learn that black boxes detecting heat and motion were installed under their desks to track how much time they spent at their desks, although the bank says it notified the union and staff about the measure, meant to track productivity. Workers say they don't remember being told, and that the tracking devices were tracing both their whereabouts and productivity.
A Bloomberg article says Barclays sent an all-staff memo denying workers' claims of being tracked and said that "the sensors were a cost-saving measure to examine the use of office space, eliminate less-occupied areas, reduce energy consumption and adopt a more flexible work environment."
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The tracking devices installed by Barclays are called OccupEye; they record the amount of time workers spend at their desks by relying on the detection of heat and motion. According to the report, the devices, which are manufactured by Blackburn, U.K.-based Cad-Capture, are advertised to companies as a way to find out how they can cut office space; they provide a multicolored dashboard analyzing usage trends andindicating to managers which workstations are unoccupied.
The Bloomberg report says that more investment banks are relying on sensors to track how much time analysts, traders and salespeople are spending with clients, and that the sensors are causing controversy in the finance industry. It adds that Barclays has also introduced a computer system that tracks how much earnings come from each client, so that bosses can pin down how much time traders, analysts and salespeople should spend with each customer.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc also uses OccupEye, while the Daily Telegraph newspaper had to remove them the same day they were installed after staff and the journalists' union complained about "Big Brother-style surveillance."
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