Called a Smart Cushion... Controversy Over Chinese IT Company Monitoring Working Hours

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] A Chinese IT company is facing controversy for monitoring employees' work attitudes using a 'smart cushion.'

According to the Global Times on the 6th, an employee of an IT company in Hangzhou recently revealed online, "All employees were given smart cushions by the company, which not only detect heart rate and sitting posture but are also used to track how long employees sit in their chairs during working hours."

According to Fenghuang Wang, the employee also claimed that an HR staff member who distributed the cushions told them, "Why do you leave your seat from 10:00 to 10:30 every morning?" and warned, "The boss can cut your bonus, so be careful."

They added, "I was not the only one who received such a warning," and said, "I wondered why the boss gave us cushions, but it turned out they were surveillance devices."

The cushion even sounds an alarm if the user remains still for a long time.

The data collected by the cushion is accessible to the employer, leading to criticism that the company is illegally monitoring its employees. The company is known to have been founded last March by an engineer formerly from Alibaba.

The company explained, "The smart cushions were only meant to be tested and there was no intention to monitor employees," but the controversy has not subsided.

Recently, controversies over employee surveillance using cutting-edge technology have been ongoing in China. In 2019, sanitation workers in Nanjing were given smart bracelets, which sparked debate. These smart bracelets have location tracking functions and send warnings if workers rest in the same spot for more than 20 minutes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.