How much personal health information should employers have about employees or job candidates?
Moderator: John Sumser
This month’s debate question is “How much personal health data should an employer be able to use to make job-related decisions?” Companies are getting more and more access to increasingly cheap ways to measure the physical status of their employees. Where should the limits be?
John Sumser: My desk is littered with the gadgets of personal health monitoring. Blood pressure cuffs, a blood glucose monitor, biofeedback gear, a breathing trainer and a meditation device. Nearby is a scale with a USB port. I’m looking at all of these devices to try to understand the future of personal health data.
My iPhone tracks all sorts of things. It manages health information, food consumption, the number of steps I take, exercise logs and medication schedules. It tracks where I am, what I’m doing, my finances and my physical status.
For me, it’s an amazing mirror showing me aspects of my personality that I never considered. A three-mile walk on the beach clobbers my blood pressure and sugar. The right blend of nutrients drives my mood over the following 24 hours. The more I quantify my behavior, the more ...
