Track Your Workers With GPS

The Globe & Mail has an interesting article about companies installing GPS tracking on company vehicles to monitor workers.  Excerpt:

Called telematics, the technology goes beyond simply providing businesses with vehicles' locations -- it can also supply data on things like when a vehicle's doors are open, when engines are turned on or when cargo has been picked up. What's more, the technology can also enable a business to remotely control a vehicle by turning off its engine, locking a door or disabling the ignition.

But the technology does have its drawbacks. For every advocate trumpeting the benefits of telematics, there is a critic who says tracking workers violates privacy. Unions, for example, are looking at telematics carefully, and some are negotiating restrictions on monitoring workers in collective agreements.

However, those concerns do not seem to be diminishing telematic's growing popularity. Recent research says businesses' use of telematics will continue to expand this year, growing into a $1.2-billion (U.S.) industry by the end of this year.

Link: globeandmail.com: Do you know where your workers are?.