Privacy, Data Security & Workplace Wearables: Best Practices for Employers
Today, tracking your heart rate and glucose levels no longer requires a visit to the doctor's office; instead, all that is needed is a smartwatch. The rise of wearable fitness devices and applications equipped with health tracking tools provides the ability to drastically improve health outcomes across all demographics.
Employers have taken note, particularly with respect to the benefits offered by fitness trackers in terms of lower employee health insurance costs. The popularity of wearables grew precipitously during the Covid-19 pandemic, as fitness trackers offered employers the ability to greatly enhance trust and wellness in the workplace at a time when employee health concerns were at an all-time high.
But there are also downsides to wearable fitness trackers in the workplace; namely, privacy and data security concerns and liability exposure risks.
Fortunately, by making privacy and data security a staple of employee wellness programs, employers can leverage these trackers in a manner that maximizes their value to the company while complying with the law, boosting worker morale and trust in the process.
To read the full article, please click here.
“Privacy, Data Security & Workplace Wearables: Best Practices for Employers,” by David J. Oberly was published in the January/February 2022 edition of the CBA Report, a publication of the Cincinnati Bar Association. Reprinted with permission.