Measuring without monitoring people
The easiest way to measure a workplace is the fastest way to lose it
Individual-level tracking is technically simple, immediately available in most badge and network systems, and the single most reliable way to make a workforce stop cooperating with anything the workplace team does next. It is also the harder position to defend to a works council.
Where aggregation happens decides what is held
The question to ask any vendor is the same: what is stored, and what can be reported.
The distinction that matters is where aggregation happens. A system that collects individual records and then reports them in groups still holds individual records, which means they can be requested, subpoenaed, re-purposed by a future manager, or breached.
Workplaced does both, and says which where. Observation studies record spaces and activities, so no individual record exists.
Dynamics stores each participant's answers, because Passport gives that person their own profile back; the organisation sees only groups of at least five, after every filter.
What to check before you choose a method
Reporting floor
Results are reported at team, department and location level. A report, filter or cross-cut with fewer than five employees is not shown at all, because a group of two is an individual.
No view of one employee for your organisation
No screen, export or permission level in your organisation shows what one named employee answered. Administrators see who has completed the questionnaire, not what they said. Passport is the employee's own, shared only if they choose to share it.
Observation over identification
Where an observation study will answer the question, it is preferred over a technology that identifies. The oldest method is often the most privacy-preserving one.
Purpose stated before collection
What is measured, why, for how long and who sees it. Written down before the study starts, which is both the legal requirement and the thing that makes participation rates hold.
ISO 27001 certified
Certificate 0202968, Workplaced Technologies Ltd, via Intertek under UKAS accreditation.
A processing agreement that matches
The DPA describes the same architecture the product implements, rather than a broader permission the product happens not to use yet.
Get the works council briefing
A briefing you can forward without rewriting it: what is measured, what is stored and what is only reported in aggregate, how each commitment is checkable, and the documents to ask for. Written for the meeting you have to survive, not for us.
PDF, in English.
Questions we get asked
Do you collect personal data?
It depends on the product, and each one says what it stores and what it shows.
Occupancy observation studies record spaces and activities, not people, so no individual record exists. Dynamics stores each participant's answers, because Passport gives that person their own profile back. The organisation sees those answers only in aggregate, at team, department or location level, and every report, filter or cross-cut must contain at least five employees or it is withheld. Administrators see who has completed the profile, not what they answered. Passport is visible to the employee alone unless they choose to share it. Booking shows colleagues where someone has booked a desk, because that is what a reservation is for.
What is processed, on what basis, who may see it and how long it is kept is settled per project before implementation, and written down.
Can our employer see my individual answers?
Not through Passport. It is for you alone, and there is no manager view of it.
Where a product does report to the organisation, it reports aggregated patterns. If you are assessing this as a works council, ask for the specific configuration in writing rather than relying on a website. That is what the data processing agreement is for.
Is Wi-Fi occupancy data anonymous?
We call it aggregated, because that is the accurate word. It produces utilisation per building, floor and zone and is not a tool for observing an individual.
How far that goes depends on the network, the configuration and the contract, so the answer for your building is the one in your agreement, not the one on this page.
Who owns the data?
That is settled in the agreement between you, Workplaced and any partner involved, along with access, permitted use and retention. It is a contractual question, and a website is the wrong place to answer it in general terms.
What security documentation is available?
For enterprise procurement: Workplaced Technologies Ltd holds ISO 27001 certificate 0202968, via Intertek under UKAS.
The certificate, the sub-processor list, the standard data processing agreement and the penetration test summary are handed over after contracting, under confidentiality. They exist and they are current, but they are not published on the open web. Ask through the contact form.
Related
- Security and compliance
ISO 27001, the DPA, and what is stored where.
- Passport
The exception, and why it is the employee's.
- Dynamics
Analyze: answers stored per participant, reported per group of at least five.