“I get a nagging feeling that we’re inching closer and closer to the mark of the beast.”
My next to last Fortune 500 employer gave us new badges. I went to the badge maker’s website. They said their system would, among quite a lot of times, provide the exact time totals people spent in the bathrooms, lunch room and smoking areas. It could be set to record how long they were in their assigned area and list everywhere they went. A friend kept his badge (necessary to enter certain labs) inside a faraday cage. But, as I pointed out, if they really wanted to they could make him wear it around his neck as they knew the instant he shielded it.
Are you in a heavily regulated industry, like pharmaceutical manufacturing or weapons systems? (Just a yes or no will do.)
I consulted in heavily regulated international industries in the 80s & 90s, and was amazed how lax the security and secrecy procedures were. I could wander around rather freely, even though the only hold they had on me was not hiring me for another assignment if I were out of line. I took a contractor with me to one meeting. She was born in another country and while we were there, she was recognized by an in-house R&D employee from the same country. They chatted in their native language. On the way home, she told me that during their conversation, the researcher disclosed that he had faked data to meet the aggressive deadlines and Federal regulations.
OK, so leave the badge at your desk when you go to the restroom and lunchroom.