Big brother on your wrist: how employers are using wearable technology to track and spy on workers

"Physically it was like getting a vaccination; a pain in the hand that was over very quickly," explained Hannes Sjoblad, describing the moment a piercing specialist implanted a microchip under his skin.

The NFC (near-field communication) chip allows the Swede to swipe into his office, set the alarm system, register loyalty points at nearby retailers and access his gym.

Around 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the 250 people working at the Epicentre co-working space in Stockholm where Sjoblad is "chief disruption officer" have opted into the programme, which eliminates the need for key-fobs or electronic entry cards. Since announcing it earlier this year, Sjoblad has been flooded with inquiries from companies looking to adopt a similar system.

"Security companies, office operators, real estate companies and even military organisations want to see how this technology works," Sjoblad said.

It’s all part of a trend toward using technology - usually wearable devices like smartglasses, wristbands, smartwatches and badges rather than implantable ones - to monitor employee movements and improve productivity. The promise of data-driven efficiency can be alluring to the board room, but it comes at a cost: the employee’s right to privacy.

"It started with big data discussions around gathering business insights and not having the human accounted for in that data puzzle. Wearable technology can help make the workforce visible in that," said Chris Bauer, director of innovation at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Devices must be paired with a powerful back-end system, however.