EntryPoint Global - Time and Attendance - Labor Scheduling - Kronos - Workbrain - Infor

Biometric technology is increasingly finding its way into companies as companies replace their old time-keeping systems with biometric time clocks. However, companies need to be aware of the privacy concerns surrounding their use and the potential backlash they may face when implementing such time-keeping devices across their organization. The recent news story regarding the City of New York's attempt to implement such such a biometric time-keeping system, illustrates the potential thorny privacy issues organizations could be confronted with when considering such solutions.

Biometric devices, such as palm, hand and fingerprint scanners, are beginning to replace the old process of “punching in” as companies and the public sector look for new and improved ways to improve efficiencies and streamline operations. These devices are used to identify people using physiological identifiers such as; fingerprints, hand geometry, face or iris recognition or through the use of behavioral identifies, such as; voice recognition, signature recognition, key stroke dynamics, or even the way a person walks. No kidding!

As biometrics increasingly become pervasive across an organizations, privacy concerns surrounding their use will only increase. For example, recently there's been a huge uproar over the use of biometric time clocks by the City of New York. Union officials and city employees are outraged by the use of hand scanners, contending they are an "invasion of privacy" and are a "bureaucratic intrusion" on working professionals and the entire project has created quite the storm in the press being carried by both CBS News and MSNBC. Who would have thought a time and attendance project would create such fanfare!!

A blog entry by Arshad Merali, entitled A Religious Perspective on Biometrics also mentions another similar municipal protests surrounding biometric time clocks, but Arshad also goes on to discuss the many advantages of biometric time clocks such as those from Kronos.

As part of its program to streamline operations, reduce employee spend and better manage their workforce, the City of New York is spending $400 M to install an automated, biometrics-based time and attendance system to be used by its 160,000 city workers.

The city expects to save some $60 M per year by modernizing its current arduous and complicated manual-based time keeping system with an automated state-of-the art timekeeping system using biometric technology. Cost savings will largely result from back office staff redundancies – the old system required one full-time time keeper for every 100 to 250 employees, as well as, time saving by freeing up thousands of workers from needless paper-pushing. Furthermore, city officials expect the new system will reduce incidents of fraud. Each year, dozens of city employees are charged with taking unauthorized time off, as well as, time card falsification and other schemes to make it look as if they worked.

However, benefits aside, one thing the city did not anticipate nor plan for was the backlash from its employees and the trade unions regarding privacy issues surrounding the use and collection of the biometric data. While other cities and their municipal workers have recently adopted the new biometric technology, privacy concerns by labor unions have curtailed the introduction of similar systems in many other jurisdictions.

Are these privacy concerns surrounding the introduction of biometric time clocks warranted?

A follow-up blog entry will address this issue and present some thoughts as to what your organization should be doing when deploying biometrics across your enterprise and hopefully avoid the bad PR the city of New York is currently receiving.

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