How bosses keep track of your attendance at the office, from under-desk sensors to badge swipes

• Companies have long used "bossware" surveillance to monitor workers and their productivity.
• Return-to-office plans put renewed attention on these tactics, which range from badge swipes to various sensors.

Companies mandating employees return to the office know not everyone will comply. The upswell in return-to-office mandates is putting renewed attention on surveillance tools that help companies keep tabs on workers.

There was a marked shift this year in where we work. Accounting firm EY released its third annual Future Workplace Index on Monday, which anonymously surveyed more than 500 US C-suite and business leaders across multiple industries this fall. Just 1% of respondents reported having a policy of full-time remote work, defined as less than one day in the office per month, compared to 34% last year.

With heightened focus on hauling workers back to the office, companies are deploying more "bossware" technologies to monitor compliance with RTO mandates.

"The various data collection and tracking measures are important components of the people, process, and technology ecosystem that informs return-to-office analysis, as well as ongoing workplace planning and optimization," said Francisco Acoba, co-lead of EY's Corporate Real Estate Consulting and Technology practice, in a statement. "Understanding how, when, and why people are using the office is critical to the development of informed hybrid workplace strategies and an enhanced workplace experience."

EY's survey asked respondents, "How are you currently collecting data to maximize and optimize your office space?" Here's what they said:

51% - WiFi

47% - Badge swipes (in and out)

44% - Artificial intelligence (AI) technology

35% - Digital cameras

24% - People-counting sensors

24% - Presence detection sensors

24% - Internet of Things (IoT) foot traffic sensors

22% - Badge swipes (in only)

22% - Occupancy sensors

16% - Under-desk sensors

14% - Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based sensors

2% - None

1% - Other

Of course, it's hard to say what some of the measures look like in practice: "artificial intelligence technology" could mean any number of things.

There's some employee-tracking software, which may or may not be used by the respondents in EY's survey, that offers the ability to monitor employees' keystrokes on their laptops, or even activate their microphones or webcams without their knowledge or take screenshots and video recordings of their screens.

High-tech water coolers can even provide data on when employers are arriving or leaving the office or taking breaks.

So what's next? It's no secret some companies use their office attendance findings to discipline or fire workers refusing to go back to the office. But companies could probably learn a thing or two otherwise from their vast employee data collection.

"The 'kit of parts' that comprises the hybrid workplace has become increasingly complex, but if designed properly, they can incorporate the flexibility to evolve, switch out key components, and if needed, reset based on insights and learnings," Acoba said.