Occupye

The Daily Telegraph has installed devices to monitor whether journalists are at their desks, BuzzFeed News has learned.

The newspaper confirmed the move in an email to staff after multiple employees said they came into work on Monday morning to find small plastic monitoring boxes attached to their desks.

Journalists were baffled by the unannounced appearance of the boxes. Staff resorted to googling the brand name and discovered they were wireless motion detectors produced by a company called OccupEye that monitor whether individuals are using their desks.

OccupEye's website says it provides "automated workspace utilisation analysis" using sensors that "are triggered by both motion and heat". This allows management access to a system that is "ultra-sensitive, yet ultra-reliable when it comes to tracking real-time 1:1 space utilisation".

"Quite simply, if a space is used, your OccupEye sensors will record it and you are guaranteed to know about it," the website states.