Biometric technology is entering the workplace in the Netherlands, according to a Dutch News article. Reporting on a story from Financieele Dagblad, the article notes that at least one temp agency has begun to use fingerprint scanning to track work attendance.
That company, Tempo Team, has installed fingerprint readers at the workplaces of such clients as Etos, Aldipress, and Grolsch, and says it uses the technology to verify temp workers’ attendance about 20,000 times a week. Tempo Team representative Monique Boonstra says the system let’s her “see from home if my staff are on time and warn the client if some have not turned up,” and predicts that such technology will likely see “explosive growth” going forward.
Recent market research backs up that prediction, as have a slew of recent, similar deployments, ranging from a UK recreation centre to a Mexican baker chain. But this practice isn’t without its perils; the Dutch News article warns that, at least in the Netherlands, there are serious privacy concerns, which will likely heighten if this kind of technology starts finding its way into other institutions. Such concerns are already playing out dramatically in San Francisco, where city workers have been protesting against a coming biometric attendance tracking system.
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March 3, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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