Biometrics in the workplace may be the way of the future. But at what cost?

When Ellie Thomson arrives at work, she doesn’t punch in on a physical clock or even check in on an app. Instead, she scans her finger. 

“Seeing everyone else go ahead and do it, it just figured like the right thing to do and there was no issues with it,'” Thomson told Cost of Living. 

Thomson is a 21-year-old server and bartender at charbar in Calgary. She’s one of many employees who now use biometric technology such as fingerprint scanning to clock in and out, and that number is rising. 

Biometrics is already a billion-dollar industry. According to a report by market research firm IMARC Group, the global biometrics market reached $39 billion US in 2023. 

And while Thomson isn’t worried about the fact that charbar has her fingerprint, privacy experts are raising concerns about the trend.

Why the shift?

According to Hannah Johnston, who specializes in the digitalization of work and teaches human resources management at York University in Toronto, employers have started using biometrics in the workplace for a number of reasons. 

She says employers argue it’s more convenient, as people most often don’t forget their finger or thumb at home, like one might forget a swipe card. She also says employees have started using fingerprint scans for a punch clock because they say it is more accurate. 

They want to know exactly when someone punches in, and be confident no one else is doing it for them.

But not everyone is on board. 

Jeff Bromley, head of the Wood Council for United Steelworkers Canada, says when fingerprint time clocks were introduced at Canfor’s Plateau Sawmill in Vanderhoof, B.C., in 2022, people revolted. 

“They were pissed off to no end,” said Bromley. “At the end of the day, they didn’t have a choice, unless they wanted to find another job or get fired.”

About 100 workers petitioned against the company for its use of biometrics, citing an unreasonable invasion of privacy, and the union filed a grievance. But an arbitrator sided with the company. 

Bromley says some people left the company over it, and others were fired for refusing to participate. CBC requested an interview from Canfor, but the company declined.

Those security concerns, Urs Hengartner says, are valid. Hengartner teaches computer science at the University of Waterloo and specializes in information privacy. 

He says fingerprint scans create a virtual copy called a template, and while it isn’t an exact replica of a fingerprint, it’s a pretty accurate copy. 

“Lots of research has shown that using this template, it is possible to reconstruct a fingerprint,” he said. “Maybe not precisely your fingerprint, but a fingerprint that will allow the hacker to login as you.”

“This is, from a privacy point of…