The OccupEye device. Following the backlash, the newspaper removed the devices the same day. OccupEye issued a statement saying "we regret if any staff within any of our client workspaces have not received communication in advance of an OccupEye deployment and thus had unfounded concerns – we can only reassure those people that they have nothing to fear from our system ... quite the opposite, they are working for a smart organisation". Video: Tracking employees with OccupyEye

MySmallBusiness contacted OccupEye but did not receive confirmation prior to publication as to whether the devices have been sold in Australia, however many Australian businesses record employees' availability via computer systems. Tracking through computer systems Accounting firm KPMG uses the Microsoft Lync​ communications system to show the availability of its staff in Australia. KPMG employees can see whether other members of their team have recently recorded keystrokes on their computers or have closed their laptop or turned it off. One KPMG employee says if they are marked as "available" on the system but then go to the toilet or to get a coffee there will sometimes be a telephone call from another employee asking where they were. A spokesperson for KPMG says the Microsoft Lync system allows staff to locate, call and message each other, and share their availability in real time.

"The system ensures KPMG staff can communicate across their network, wherever they are working from, using it for text-based chat, telephone calls, videoconferencing, and to share documents," the spokesperson says. It's no longer about hours sitting at a desk, it is about delivery of outcomes. Eve Ash Dharma Chandran, partner at KPMG, says he uses the Microsoft Lync system when clients need to know where staff are and so staff can work from places other than their desk. "This is to enable them to be as flexible as possible rather than as a way of monitoring people," he says. Chandaran says it appears the Daily Telegraph used the OccupEye system to try to ensure desk space reflected employees flexibility rather than to monitor staff.

"In the past there have been cases of employers putting monitoring equipment into workplaces to try to ensure greater productivity," he says. "The paradigm that time at the desk makes greater productivity has been and gone. Most employers understand that autonomy allows greater flexibility." Damaging trust Workplace psychologist Eve Ash says monitoring staff through a device such as the OccupEye is a real invasion of staff's privacy. "This was amazing, and to do it with no discussion whatsoever was unbelievable," Ash says. "We already have workplaces where trust is so susceptible to being damaged and this is like a giant sword through that trust." Ash says time spent at a desk is not a good measure of productivity for staff.