November 4, 2003 Dow Jones WebReprint Service®
Big Employer Is Watching
Companies Monitor Workers With New Tracking Systems
By KRIS MAHER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"It's 9 a.m. Do you know where your workers are?
Increasingly, companies do. In their drive to squeeze greater efficiency from staffers, a growing number of employers are embracing sophisticated electronic tracking systems to ensure their workers are at their desks and work stations when they are supposed to be. And while many blue-collar workers are used to punching a time clock, many of the new tracking systems are trained on white-collar, salaried employees.
At New York law firm Akin & Smith LLC, paralegals, receptionists and clerks clock in by placing a finger on a sensor kept at a secretary's desk. "It keeps everyone honest," says Derek T. Smith, a managing partner at the firm. "I like to see how long they take for lunch," he says, adding that the system so far has been "very successful" in boosting productivity.
For Wanda Ortiz, a 24-year-old paralegal, the firm's biometric system was a bit of a shock at first. "I never saw anything like this" at three previous law-firm jobs, she says. But she says placing her thumb on the sensor whenever she enters or leaves the office has made her more conscious about getting back to work on time after breaks. "I do rush at lunchtime if I go out," Ms. Ortiz says." http://webreprints.djreprints.com/861950252181.html
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