Area Developers Putting Bar Codes On Workers To Avoid Construction Delays
Area Developers Putting Bar Codes On Workers To Avoid Construction Delays
Photo by Victoria Pickering.
There's a new way to avoid construction delays: all business have to do is a slap a high-tech bar code on their employees.
About 20 D.C.-area construction projects are using the services of a new local data and analytics company called Eyrus, reports Washington Business Journal (behind a paywall). Its catchphrase: "Know it all."
Here's how the technology works, per WBJ:
All workers on a job site must affix [bar codes] to their hard hats. A series of data collection systems tracks the workers as they enter and exit the job site and feed that information to Eyrus. Users can then generate a host of reports and analytics to track everything from a project's timetable to the native language and nicknames of individual workers should that be needed in emergencies. The information can also be used to see if developers are meeting local job creation goals and to resolve labor disputes between contractors and subcontractors.
Companies like JBG, Deloitte, Davis Construction, and Jair Lynch are among current Eyrus customers, and the firm hopes to expand into other cities, too.
JBG's senior vice president and director of construction, Paul Elias, told WBJ that people questioning the need of Eyrus's services during a well-run project are "like saying the prison is going really smoothly because we have all these guards."
Eyrus isn't the first company to offer services to track the whereabouts of their workers. Take TSheets, an app installed on workers' phones to track their time and GPS location (Their motto? "We ❤️ Employees"). Or ActivTrak, which has "invisible agents" that monitor and screenshot computer use. Other companies, like Sociometric Solutions, use RFID chips (aka bar codes) in ID badges, which can "live-stream tones and intonations which are then interpreted by Sociometrics software," reports Inc. Even in the construction business, Eyrus has competition.
A survey conducted by TSheets of 1,000 workers found that one in three U.S. employees say they've been tracked by GPS at work. Unlike law enforcement, bosses don't need to get a warrant to track their workers' locations. Indeed, employers have a lot of legal leeway when it comes to workplace surveillance.
Eyrus Managing Director Rusty Meadows told WBJ he believes the technology is "here to stay."
http://dcist.com/2017/04/dc_company_putting_bar_codes_on_wor.php
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