Strategic Human Resource Management and Technology 393Exercise 13.2: Tracking Workers Through Technology
Employers are increasingly using technology to track workers. Nurses at
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, carry radio -
frequency identifi cation tags that allow their movements to be tracked.
Management said the system was used to ensure the quality of patient
care, not keep track of nurses who are on breaks.
The town of Babylon, New York, installed global positioning system
technology in most of its 250 vehicles, including snow plows and dump
trucks.
In New York City, the Bloomberg administration has devoted more
than $ 18 million toward technology to keep track of when city employees
come and go, and one agency requires its workers to scan their hands each
time they enter and leave the workplace. In New York City, the use of hand
scanners is part of CityTime, an effort by the Offi ce of Payroll Administra-
tion to automate timekeeping. CityTime will be able to record attendance
and leave requests, collect time forms automatically, coordinate timekeep-
ing with the city ’ s payroll system, and allow workers and their supervisors
to monitor time, attendance, and leave online. A spokesman for Mayor
Bloomberg said the timekeeping project would make payroll administra-
tion more effi cient. The use of scanners makes it easier for employees to
fi le timesheets and saves the city personnel costs.
Identifi cation devices have supplanted the use of drug tests and poly-
graph exams in concerns about workplace privacy. New technologies are
raising concerns about the control of personal information.Questions
- How do you feel about the potential privacy violations these new
devices may bring into the workplace? - Develop a policy and security procedures so that employees ’ personal
information will not be at risk.
Source: Chan (2007).