Three Square Market, a technology company in River Falls Wisconsin, recently became one of the first companies in the world - and the first in the US - to microchip staff. It was approved by regulators in 2004.
Three Square Market is taking its lead from Sweden, where several companies are pioneering the employee microchip movement.
Although other companies in Sweden, the Czech Republic and Belgium have previously offered similar programmes, fewer than 10 per cent of workers have taken up the idea. However, at Three Square Market more than 50 out of 80 employees have volunteered so far making this the largest uptake of any scheme yet. This should now herald the way for other such schemes to be commonly adopted.
The chip costs approximately £230 each and is the size of a grain of rice. It uses RFID - or radio-frequency identification technology - which is also used by postmen who scan parcels on barcodes and the same technology is used in a contactless credit card. It is implanted between the thumb and forefinger.
Employees will not be required to have the implants and the chip will not track employees or have GPS positioning.
Todd Westby, CEO of Three Square Market explained: ‘We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals. It's the next thing that's inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it. Eventually, this technology will become standardised allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities." He added, “We think it's the right thing to do for advancing innovation just like the driverless car basically did in recent months.”
Mr Westby stated that the response among staff ‘exceeded my expectations’.
In the UK, biometric access systems such as facial, eye and fingerprint recognition have grown in use without any legal challenges and as, so far, there are no reported cases concerning the use of implanted microchips in employees in the UK, there has not been a legal challenge. However, if considering implementing this in the workplace, employers should tread very carefully.
Employees would have to give full and free consent to having microchips implanted – and be able to withdraw consent at any time as an employee who was instructed or who felt pressured to accept could potentially resign – claiming constructive dismissal.
Human rights, religious objections, personal injury claims (if the chip was incorrectly implanted) and the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation will also have to be taken into account. However, just as CCTV grew to be universally accepted, micro-chipping employees may soon be the new ‘norm’.
