Google Latitude Lets You Track Employee Changes in Attitude

Lisa Hoover 0 569 Views

As my colleague Davey Winder pointed out earlier today, Google has launched yet another cool tool, . For the most part, its usefulness doesn't extend much beyond social gadflies, but I can think of at least one practical implication for the workplace.

Google Latitude is an opt-in location tracking service that uses your cell phone's GPS or cell tower triangulation capabilities to show your location anywhere on the planet. Once you download and enable Latitude, simply add people to your approved list of contacts and they'll receive a message to connect with you. No sharing occurs on either end until you both agree to allow your locations to be broadcast to each other.

Latitude only works on a select group of phones at the moment, including G1 and newer-generation BlackBerrys (a version is coming soon for iPhones and iPod touches). There is also a desktop companion so you can track your contacts right from a PC.

Although there is isn't a huge amount of practical application for this fun new tool, if you issue company-owned smartphones to your remote employees, it's definitely worth considering downloading Latitude on each device.

As a rule, most employees who telecommute are fairly honest. However, if everyone has the app on their company-issued phone and you suspect a rogue employee of slacking at the beach when she claims she's in your client's server room, you'll have a handy tool for finding out the truth.

What other ways can companies use Google Latitude? Let me know in the comments.

Dani AI

Generated

Smart point from (and the nod to @DaveyWinder). Location tools can be useful for legitimate business needs, but they change the employer/employee relationship unless handled deliberately. Treat any rollout as a narrowly scoped operational feature: pick a small number of clearly defined use cases (for example, safety checks, dispatching, or asset recovery), then design policy and technical controls to match those use cases.

Quick deployment checklist:

  • Define the business purpose and the minimum data needed: who, when, why, and for how long.
  • Put a written policy in the handbook and get signed acknowledgement that explains access, retention, and dispute processes.
  • Prefer company-owned devices or create a managed container on BYOD. Use mobile device management (MDM) to control app installs, geofence settings, and time windows.
  • Limit who can view location data, keep an immutable audit trail, and apply automatic deletion after a short retention period.
  • Pilot with a small field team to measure battery impact, false positives, and workflow friction.

Operational tips and caveats: expect accuracy and battery limits—GPS is best outdoors; urban or indoor readings can be noisy. Use geofences and scheduled sharing windows rather than continuous minute-by-minute logging. For contested locations, combine app data with job timestamps and a simple appeals process. Secure the data in transit and at rest, and avoid broadcasting feeds to third parties.

Legal and HR cautions: privacy laws and union rules vary, so get legal review before broad use. Be transparent, provide reasonable off-duty privacy, and frame tracking as a tool to improve safety and efficiency, not as a surveillance default. If the only goal is policing anecdotal slacking, less-invasive measures (better scheduling, clear metrics, regular manager check-ins) are usually more effective.

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