Google Glass is gaining the ability to let executives see through the eyes of their remote workers using the enterprise version of the augmented reality headset.
Google Glass: Concerns Over Privacy and Tech Etiquette
The new feature is intended to help employees perform tasks outside the office more efficiently at a time when working from home is on the rise due to the coronavirus crisis. An update to Glass will bring Google Meet to Glass and enable live chat. But the ability to monitor employees through Glass raises privacy concerns, observers say.
“One concern is that overzealous managers will use this technology to over-monitor their employees, which could lead to additional stress in the workplace,” Ottomatias Peura, chief marketing officer of Speechly, a speech recognition software company, said in an email interview. “Another is that because the device itself is inherent, Google has access to a wealth of data about employees, work environments and internal company information.”
Experts say Meet on Google Glass could be a game-changer. For example, Google points out that field service technicians could connect with experts in a different location to repair devices that provide medical care to patients. “Employees and employers will benefit because they no longer have to be physically together to work,” Robb Hecht, a professor of marketing at Baruch College in New York, said in an email interview.
