Big Brother at work … Does your company track you during the day? They might start. A new survey by Resume Builder found that 80% of companies plan to track office attendance this year. The majority of companies surveyed plan to do so using badge swipes (62%), while others will track attendance manually (50%), through Wi-Fi (50%), with occupancy sensors (43%) or with sensors placed under an employee’s desk (38%).
"I think that companies will start to lose their top people when they realize that they're being tracked this heavily. It feels very Big Brother, and it's very micromanaging, and people don't like that," says Julia Toothacre, a resume and career coach at ResumeBuilder.com. “I think [workers] will find places where they're valued for what they bring to the table versus their time in a chair."
The survey also found that 90% of companies want workers back in the office and are willing to offer incentives to get them there. Among the incentives: happy hours (52%), catered meals (46%) and upgraded office space (41%). Some will offer perks like raises (40%) and child care benefits (37%).
And the report indicated there would be consequences for workers not willing to return to the office. A third of companies said they would fire workers who don’t return to the office. More than half (53%) said they’d consider reducing a worker’s salary.
63% of the companies surveyed said they believe going to the office will improve work culture, while 29% say working at the office will reduce burnout.
"I think that employers are out of touch with what the average employee wants at their company," Toothacre says. "And, unless these companies that were surveyed have their own internal surveys that show this information, I'd be really shocked if it aligned. What I see as a career coach is wildly different."