Ascentis Corp. is rolling out what it calls the CarePoint, a touch-less punch clock that takes employees' temperature when they arrive at work using thermal technology.
Ascentis, a technology company with 72 employees in its Eden Prairie-based office, specializes in technology for human resources functions like payroll and clocking in. With the Covid-19 pandemic spreading across the United States, keeping employees healthy is now just as important as those other priorities.
"Workplace safety will continue to remain a top priority for organizations as the country starts to reopen their businesses in the coming weeks and months," Ascentis CEO Brian Provost said in a statement. "It’s imperative for companies to embrace our new normal by creating a safer work environment."
The CarePoint was already in development, according to Ascentis' chief marketing officer Troy Thibodeau, but was accelerated to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CarePoint works by recognizing employees' faces to scan them in at the beginning of each workday. A thermal scanner, which the company says is accurate within 0.5°C, takes the employee's temperature at the same time. If that temperature is over a threshold set by the employer, indicating a fever, a notification will be sent to human resources teams who can take additional steps as necessary.
Many HR systems providers are making similar pitches: Clear, the company best known for airport checkpoint systems, is marketing its own thermal scanner, while companies such as PwC and UnitedHealth are offering apps that let employees screen themselves for symptoms or alert them if they've been near another worker who's tested positive.
Thermal scanning has its opponents. The American Civil Liberties Union warned against using the temperature taking technology on the grounds that they could lead to a false sense of security, and can lead to more surveillance of workers. Thibodeau argued that some employees were already asking for the technology.
Another issue: People infected with Covid-19 are often contagious before they develop a fever — and may not run a temperature at all — making thermal scans a limited tool.
Installations of the CarePoint will begin in June, he said; it's already been sold to dozens of customers. Taking employee temperatures was once illegal in the workplace but due to new guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it is allowed for the time being. But Ascentis is also clear that the CarePoint is more than just thermal scanning, which may go away just as quickly as it came.
"We're not certain it's going to be legal forever," Thibodeau said.
Ascentis is the Twin Cities' 20th largest software-as-a-service company, according to Business Journal research.
