Although it's not shocking that companies like Gensler have automated on/off sensors in their lighting grid to save energy when no one's in the office, it's slightly less comforting to realize that many companies are now using sensors to monitor when employees are at their desks, if they're talking with their fellow co-workers, and how long they're in the bathroom. (Makes one harken for the days when workers were judged by what they actually produced, as opposed to their process of production.) As Marketplace reports, one of the new privacy-free devices is called "Humanyze": 

They’re in a badge you wear around [your] neck, kind of like an ID badge. And they measure this thing called “latency” to see how often people are interacting with their co-workers. Which, to me, sounds like a little bit much. But they claim the data is anonymized, and they don’t record exactly what you’re saying, or at least they don’t share that with your employer.... The Boston Consulting Group is using it to see how their design might encourage employee interactions. You know, they want their employees to be talking to each other a lot. They have all these theories about how that’s better for creativity and innovation. So they think that they can use these sensors to better design their space.