Watchdog warning | 'Neurotech' could be used to track workers' brain data, report says

Employers could adopt new neurotechnology to monitor workers’ attention and focus in the workplace and identify ‘desirable patterns of behaviour’ among job candidates, a watchdog has said.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has released a report stating that HR departments may soon have their hands full with the task of processing ‘neurodata’ - a task which will be fraught with legal issues such as GDPR, and ethical concerns such as power imbalances in the employer-employee relationship.

And while the report insisted that ‘mind-reading’ and other such dystopian technologies remained ‘largely theoretical’ for the time being, the ICO did warn of the risk that tracking employees’ mental bandwidth could “embed systemic bias” into workplace processes, particularly discriminating against those who are neurodivergent.

In particular, growing use of neurodata and neurotech could present particular ethical and legal concerns in the recruitment sector, said the ICO.