Fit, Happy and Productive: How Wearables Are Radically Transforming the Workplace

As the headline suggests, this is an incredible augury for future workplace strategy. Perhaps the most impressive, or alarming, of all is this:

“[Japanese electronics manufacturer] Hitachi decided to use a proprietary wearable in order to better measure and manage employee interaction. Hitachi developed the Hitachi Business Microscope, a card-shaped device that employees wear on a lanyard around their neck. The device contains a microphone, an accelerometer, infrared sensors and other data-collection devices. It tracks where workers are, who they talk to, how far away they stand from the colleagues they’re talking to, how often they make hand gestures, how frequently they nod and how the energy level in their voice changes.

“With this feedback, workers can see how their communication habits and energy levels change depending on whom they’re meeting and where the interaction takes place. An LCD screen shows real-time stats for personal feedback and benchmarking, and suggests strategies for improving collaboration.”

On YouTube, it is given this title: “Japanese inventions: Hitachi badge spies on employees.”