An Unexpected Benefit Wearables Deliver from Contact Tracing

Wearables have become an increasingly popular solution for helping businesses get back on track amid the COVID-19 climate. Why? Well, they help in two very significant ways. 

First, wearables are a reliable tool to enforce social distancing. By using visible cues when placed directly on someone’s person, they help people immediately recognize when they’ve entered too close of a distance to someone else. 

Second, wearables help businesses contact trace by putting the data right in their hands. By having employees simply slip on a badge or sensor, business leaders receive data captured by these devices that map traffic flow to see who came into contact with whom, when and for how long. Both of these applications are key to keeping work environments as safe as possible for employees and customers as businesses re-open.

But one other surprising benefit of wearables in addition to the above, by using their data and mapping features, is that employers can look beyond identifying high-risk people and interactions to also identifying high-risk places. 

Using the information collected by wearables, they can determine which locations or areas within their office spaces or facilities have had the most exposure to anyone that tests positive or is showing symptoms. In doing so, employers can take the necessary steps to limit traffic or modify their cleaning procedures in real-time. 

For example, if an employee tests positive, a manager could not only see who that person came in contact with to alert them, but also see where they spent their day. With this information in hand, they could schedule an immediate deep clean or air purification to ensure the area is safe. In addition to positive cases, managers can also determine where the most foot traffic happens and when so they can schedule and either increase or decrease cleaning rounds as needed, provide extra masks and hand sanitizers or install additional safety equipment, such as plastic dividers. 

While the ability for COVID-19 to live on surfaces has been hotly debated, with greater cleaning procedures in place, businesses can feel more confident that they are doing everything they can to create safe environments for employees and customers alike. And this extends just beyond the physical benefits, but psychological as well. 

In fact, according to a recent survey, 54% of employees worry about COVID-19 exposure while on-the-job. Taking this a step further, in a Harvard Business Review study, they found that of all of the things employees want from their employers to make them feel safe on-site, the number one thing—to the tune of 55%—is extensively cleaning and sanitizing work areas. In a time when anxiety and concerns are high, wearables can help businesses put additional and better practices in place that will make employees feel more at ease. 

That’s not to say all wearables will achieve this desired effect. As we explored in a recent blog post, many wearable options rely on WiFi, RFID or GPS for tracking, which come with inherent risk and a high probability of inaccurate readings. At Proxfinity, we developed our smart badge to signal device-to-device as they come in close proximity to one another, meaning greater accuracy.

Wearables have the ability to help businesses in a myriad of ways to not only keep employees safe but also maintain realistic and consistent operations. Interested in learning more? 

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