The editor in chief of Ziff-Davis's Baseline magazine, Tom Steinert-Threlkeld, uses a British union's Chicken Little response to RFID tags in warehouses to illustrate the weakness of the hysterics' arguments. (Link)
The stated fear is they'll be tracked every time they take a break or head for the rest room. The unstated fear: Every movement becomes trackable. Employers, using the information gathered by ever-present radio waves, could see which warehouse worker really is most efficient and prioritize hiring, firing and overtime accordingly.
Of course good management already knows who's performing above, at and below standards, and technology will do little to change that. The union, in this case, is merely refusing to admit that the slackers have already been identified and is using RFID as a convenient straw man.
But Steinert-Threlkeld doesn't stop at exposure of the weakness, he suggests a way past the problem. He points out that a pilot program to use fingerprints to pay for groceries is getting good reviews by customers.
What makes the customers at Albertson's happy about being identified personally is they get something in return for it: a more convenient method of paying for their purchases.What makes the union workers in the U.K. unhappy about being identified is: They can't see what they get out of it.
Here's a capitalistic thought: Share the wealth. If you can keep track of what each warehouse worker does, whether by tags or by fingertips, reward the most productive with bonuses.
Your costs will still go down, even if those workers' total pay goes up.
Bravo, Tom.
Posted by Jack at August 11, 2005 09:40 AM | TrackBack