Boeing, the aerospace giant, has decided to put a halt to its pilot program aimed at tracking employee movements within its offices. The decision comes after significant pushback from employees and public scrutiny over privacy concerns, following a report by The Seattle Times.
The program in question involved the installation of “workplace occupancy sensors” in the ceilings of Boeing’s Everett offices. These devices, provided by Cincinnati-based Avuity, combined motion detectors and cameras to monitor how office spaces were being utilized. The intention was to gather data on employee presence and usage of various areas like workstations, conference rooms, and common spaces, with the data analyzed via artificial intelligence to inform real estate and facility management decisions.
However, the initiative was met with apprehension by Boeing’s workforce, particularly among engineers who felt the monitoring was intrusive. The system promised anonymity by processing blurred images and focusing on occupancy metrics rather than individual identification. Despite assurances that images collected would be destroyed post-upload to the cloud, and that no Boeing employee could access raw images without permission, the program raised alarms about potential misuse of personal data.
Boeing did not provide further details on when or if the program might resume.
