Three Square Market, a Wisconsin based tech company, has recently become one of the first businesses on the globe to microchip their staff.

“Why?” I hear you ask?

Well, it’s not so they can control their employees through mind control or even give them superhuman strength, it’s for a much more practical reason – so the company can rid of their old security and identity pass system.

50 of the 80 strong workforce have agreed to have the microchip, close to the size of a single grain of rice and costing $300, implanted in their hand.

These microchips will allow employees to clock into work, log onto computers, open security doors as well as buy company food and drink from the canteen – all using radio-frequency identification technology.

The chips, however, do not and can not monitor an employees location as they are not GPS capable, which is good news for all you toilet break meme-browsers.

Vice-president of international development at Three Square Market, Tony Danna, spoke to the BBC on the recent news and described the chip as: “the same thing as the chip that is in your credit card. The entire point of the chip is convenience”.

“It takes about two seconds to put it in and to take it out. Putting it in is “like getting a shot” using a syringe while taking it out is like removing a splinter,” he explained.

So, is this legal in the UK?

Well, similar tech is already available in the UK marketplace, just not in this way. Biometric access systems such as iris, facial and fingerprint have all been fairly popular systems that have grown in use in recent years, without any legal challenge.

With that being said, as there are no reported cases concerning the use of implanted microchips in employees in the UK, the legal system remains unchallenged.

So, is this the future?

Don’t forget microchipping workers is still in the very, very early stages of development – both from a tech and moral perspective.

It’s perhaps possible that this field will continue to evolve and increase in popularity, especially with the current millennial, workforce generation – a generation already accepting of wearable technology.