Biohax says UK businesses planning microchip implants for employees

Steve
Mitchell/AP

• Some prominent UK companies are planning to offer optional
  microchip implants for their employees, which would mostly
  perform the same functions as an identification badge. 
• Biohax, the Swedish company planning to offer its microchip
  services to UK businesses, didn’t say which companies are
  considering the move. 
• The company said the microchips can make everyday tasks
  faster, like buying food and entering the building. The implants
  are also be able to restrict access to certain areas. 

Workers at some UK businesses may soon be able to demonstrate
that they’re dedication to the job is literally skin deep. 

Biohax, a Swedish microchip company, is currently discussing with
several prominent UK companies the possibility of offering
microchip implants to employees,
The Telegraph reports. 

The main benefit of the procedure seems to be
convenience. The microchip implant essentially serve as an
employee internal identification badge — the chips can be used
grant access to buildings and to pay for things around the office
like food or print jobs. They can also be used to restrict access
to certain off-limits areas. 

Whether having electronic circuits implanted between your thumb
and forefinger is your idea of a job perk or a dystopian
nightmare depends on your perspective, but the Telegraph notes
that the chip implants would be optional for employees.

Biohax didn’t name any of the companies that were considering the
implants, but one is a financial services with hundreds of
thousands of employees, Biohax told The Telegraph. 

The implants are similar to the microchips commonly used with
pets, and are inserted into the hand between the thumb and
forefinger. Biohax says the implant process only takes a few
seconds. After they’re implanted, the microchips work similarly
to contactless payment systems — the employee will just need to
present their hand to a scanner to activate it. 

See also:
Thousands of people in Sweden are embedding microchips under
their skin to replace ID cards

Some have voiced their concerns over the practice, including UK
labor unions like The Trade Unions Congress.

“We know workers are already concerned that some employers
are using tech to control and micromanage, whittling away their
staff’s right to privacy,” TUC general secretary
Frances O’Grady said to alphr.com. 

Jowan Österlund, the founder of Biohax, anticipated this
kind of response, but said employees shouldn’t be
worried. 

“If this came from a government, I’d be like yeah, you know
what, no that’s not going happen,” Österlund said to The
Telegraph. “We’re a private actor, we’re doing this with our
community, for our community.”