White House Probes Tracking Tech That Monitors Workers’ Productivity: Kiplinger Economic Forecasts

The move comes amid concerns some tools violate labor laws

simple rendering of the White House
(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The White House will examine automated tools to track and manage workers.

Among those singled out by the Office of Science and Technology Policy: RFID badges that track nurses’ proximity and location; speed and location monitors for delivery drivers; keystroke and mouse activity trackers for office workers; and scanners that track work pace for warehouse workers, among other things.

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Officials are looking for firsthand worker experiences with the technologies.

While it’s not yet clear what policies will result from such initiatives, they increasingly reflect a whole-of-government effort to tackle the issue.

For example, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has warned that certain worker-tracking technologies could violate federal labor law.

This forecast first appeared in The Kiplinger Letter. Since 1923, the Letter has helped millions of business executives and investors profit by providing reliable forecasts on business and the economy, as well as what to expect from Washington.  Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe.   

Matthew Housiaux
Reporter, The Kiplinger Letter
Housiaux covers the White House and state and local government for The Kiplinger Letter. Before joining Kiplinger in June 2016, he lived in Sioux Falls, SD, where he was the forum editor of Augustana University's student newspaper, the Mirror. He also contributed stories to the Borgen Project, a Seattle-based nonprofit focused on raising awareness of global poverty. He earned a B.A. in history and journalism from Augustana University.