UBS years ago removed the personal desks of its employees. U.S. firm Boston Consulting Group is now going one, or perhaps rather two steps further.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) unveiled its new offices at Hudson Yards in New York, U.S. portal «Crain's» this week reported. Some 600 employees will have 18,000 square meters on six floors at their disposal.

The clue about the new offices: employees won't get their own desk and will have no desktop computer and no phone to their name. They will have to decide each day where they want to work.

Please Leave Personal Items at Home

This isn't earth-shattering news of course. UBS has known the concept since 2010, when it introduced a similar structure at its offices in Zurich. The same organization has also been applied at the new London branch.

But BCG has gone a step further. It introduced windowless offices for its 105 partners, work spaces available to all employees as long as they aren't being used. That way the company wants to prevent its staff from bringing their personal items along.

Biometric Sensors

In a step that may yet prove to be a precursor of things to come, BCG issued a number of its staff with biometric sensors. They help the company count the number of exchanges, record the people employees had a conversation with and the places of the encounters.

To sweeten the blow, BCG will pay for the lunches of all its staff. But that's about how far generosity will stretch. The company refused to make a fitness room available even though its staff asked for one. BCG claimed the space needed for a fitness center would cost too much. Instead, it offers a crosstrainer and a treadmill for shorter workouts.

Collection, Analysis, and What Next?

BCG believes the new concept helps boost productivity as working days become less predictable. It has hired Humanyze data specialist, a startup company founded by former MIT students. Humanyze will analyze the data collected by the biometric sensors.

The case of BCG's office is an exception so far. Ross Love, the managing partner responsible for the concept, believes the data collected will represent a core product for BCG consultants. What this may mean in future is anybody's guess.

With the series of scandals at financial-services institutions, these companies felt the need to up the technological supervision of their staff. Not least at UBS and Credit Suisse. And of course, biometric analysis is also a tool applied in the recruitment of new staff.