Facial recognition and integration tech will add new value to home working

Lee Copland, Maxxess, Managing Director EMEA

It’s almost two years since the first pandemic lockdowns and some employers are asking if the dividends of home working are beginning to fade.

Even without mandatory work-from-home restrictions plenty of organisations have continued with the hybrid model, having discovered the benefits that can come with a reduced physical premises footprint: cost savings, operational flexibility, and sometimes increased productivity.

And there’s no question that being based at home, for at least part of the week, is popular with many employees.

But some business leaders believe that improved work-life balance comes at a cost, with a negative impact on competitiveness, customer service and performance. Retail boss Sir John Timpson has warned that firms which allow offices to become occasional meeting places will increasingly be at a competitive disadvantage. And Japan’s Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry has suggested that working from home in that country has reduced productivity by almost a third.

As they weigh up the pros and cons of hybrid working, employers are also having to deal with the impact of labour shortages, and the so-called ‘great resignation’.

Some, like Octavius Black, CEO of the behavioural science consultancy MindGym, believe that current staff shortages are being driven in some cases by home working, because weakened workplace ties have made jobs less appealing. Quoted in the FT he argues that working from home is “dissipating the social capital that you need to be a successful, complex organization”.

So how can employers get the balance right, and keep the advantages of hybrid working without the downsides?

A big part of the answer is provided by the new generation of integrated communications, monitoring and engagement tools. These were already emerging before the pandemic and have advanced significantly further over the last two years.

What makes these tools so interesting is that while they are increasingly powerful, they don’t come with a high price tag. Their functionality is also being developed at a surprising rate as new applications are identified, customer by customer.

They are a progression of the integrated site security and building management solutions which for some time have been streamlining corporate systems and cutting out the inefficiencies of siloed technologies in busy workplaces from hospitals and hospitality to logistics hubs.

One of the big advantages of bringing together key systems and integrating them with Microsoft Active Directory and other core office data systems is that organisations can manage access to multiple, dispersed physical premises – and access to networks – much more effectively.

Streamlining visitor management systems is allowing employers to remove many of the old annoyances and inconveniences that employees, contractors, and other site visitors had to put up with every time they arrived on site and had to pass through security.

Now, these visitors benefit from touchless, frictionless access – and this is just the impressive front end to a deep level solution that integrates HR databases and scheduling systems with security, allowing organisations to automate once cumbersome processes.

The next generation solutions are going further by strengthening and extending the connections between remotely based teams and the corporate centre.

It’s now possible, for example, to integrate facial recognition AI with these solutions. The result is not just improved access security at physical premises – with facial recognition providing a powerful ID option – but improved network security and more secure home working too.

With facial recognition, remote monitoring can ensure that only authorised employees view and work with sensitive data. If that authorised individual moves away from their laptop – or if another trigger event occurs such as a somebody looking over their shoulder, or the door of a secure home office being left open – access can immediately time-out.

The same AI technology will detect any attempt to deceive the system using a photograph or digital image, and ensure a high degree of authentication accuracy. These tools can be tailored to the security level required by the user – in the case of a bank or government department, for example, the access restrictions can be more rigorous, with a small business where employees have to be nimble it can be more flexible.

These tools are powerful and have to be used carefully so as not to infringe employees’ privacy concerns, or make them feel that they are being monitored. But the point is that they can be. In fact, they can become part of a two-way engagement between employees and employers. Are people taking breaks from their desks as often as they should? Do they want to report a concern anonymously? Do they need emergency help? Whether staff are at home or in the office, employees need to be able to answer these questions, not just to meet their duty of care obligations but to maintain well motivated and loyal teams.

Speaking to the BBC in January, Joanna Swash CEO of outsourced call services provider Moneypenny reflected on the recruitment challenges that many businesses are facing. She pointed out that people are looking not just for jobs but for a great employer: “This is a new world we’re all operating in. It’s not about bums on seats anymore, it’s about treating people as an individual, making sure that they’re looked after”.

We now have some exciting integration tools and AI technologies to help.