Company introduces new "security badges" which track employee movements, productivity, and even bathroom breaks, employees cease all communication to management, leading to production issues: 'Cost the company $50k in repairs and lost production'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Oct 27, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Trust is something that is built up over an incredibly long period of time, but can be destroyed in an instant. Once it's gone, there's no guarantee it's coming back either. Just right about when your employer starts tracking your bathroom breaks, you know that the trust is gone, and you probably should start looking for other work.

Employers think they have the upper hand, and they often do, in most employment situations. There are so many things that they would love to put into action, slashing costs and destroying employee quality of life—if they could only just "get away" with it. The only thing keeping these ideas in check and from being put into action is that morale, communication, and productivity of the remaining workforce would pretty much cease if they pushed things too far. See, when it comes to trust and employee morale, organizations are often skating on thin ice. One bad decision, one push too far, will send relations plunging into icy depths they may never recover from. 

And, as we all are wont to do, when we find that something hasn't gone our way, or that we might have been in the wrong somewhere, well, we tend to double down rather than admitting we were wrong. Both of these things: the doubling down and losing trust, were on display when this organization instated a new policy that revolved around badge scanners that tracked employees' movements right down to their bathroom breaks. Although, to be fair, there wasn't a whole lot of faith or trust there already, apparently owing to the organization's accusations that employees were spending too much time away from their desks.

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  • "They tracked our bathroom breaks. Now nobody talks to management about anything."

    My company installed badge scanners at every door about six months ago. Said it was "for security purposes" but we all knew what it was really for. Two weeks later management starts having one on ones asking why certain people are "away from their desks so frequently."
    via GregB4789
  • Employees look seriously at their phones while on a break drinking coffee
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Turns out they were tracking our bathroom breaks, how long we took for lunch, everything. My coworker got pulled aside because she was "spending too much time in the break room." She has IBS. That was a fun HR complaint.
    via GregB4789
  • But here's where it backfired spectacularly. People stopped talking to management about ANYTHING. Before, if you saw a problem or had an idea, you'd just walk over and mention it. Now? Nobody moves unless absolutely necessary. That means nobody's catching issues before they become expensive disasters.
    via GregB4789
  • Last month a machine broke down because nobody wanted to walk across the building to tell the supervisor about a weird noise. Cost the company $50k in repairs and lost production. When management asked why nobody said anything, the response was "didn't want it to look like I was away from my desk too long."
    via GregB4789
  • Now they're doing mandatory "collaboration sessions" trying to figure out why communication has completely died. We all just sit there in silence. Nobody's explaining that we're doing exactly what they wanted - staying at our desks and not moving around unnecessarily. The tracking is still active. Communication is still dead. It's honestly beautiful to watch.
    via GregB4789
  • Employees check their phone while on a shared break
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+
  • Ethel_Marie That's some amazing collective malicious compliance.
    via GregB4789
  • AppropriateTwo9038 sounds like management shot themselves in the foot
    via GregB4789
  • coco_bubble My work (Drs office) had us put an app on our personal cell phones to clock in and out. When you are clocked in, it tracks your movement. One manager was giggling about knowing how long we were in the bathroom, only man in the office mind you. I turned my location tracking off, and was called into his office for "timecard fraud". But if you turn the tracking off, it clocks you out. So you have to be tracked to get paid. Now I clock in at my desk, and leave my phone on my desk for 8 s
    via GregB4789
  • Squirrely_Dan Can't wait for companies to start putting a limit on the amount of their potable water I'm allowed to consume on the property during work hours.
    via GregB4789
  • Squirrely_Dan Can't wait for companies to start putting a limit on the amount of their potable water I'm allowed to consume on the property during work hours.
    via GregB4789

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workplace discussion employment issues antiwork workplace-stories jobs employee employment-discussion job work employees overworked-employees workplace Horrible Bosses employment in the workplace
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