Microchipped employees?

Photo: The Canadian Press

Tony Danna, vice president of international development at Three Square Market.

A Wisconsin company is offering to microchip its employees, enabling them to open doors, log onto their computers and purchase break room snacks with a simple swipe of the hand.

Three Square Market, also known as 32M, said more than 50 employees are voluntarily getting implants Aug. 1 at what the company is calling a "chip party" at its River Falls headquarters. The chips are the size of a grain of rice and are inserted underneath the skin between the thumb and forefinger using a syringe. The procedure takes a couple of seconds.

The technology is already available in Europe, but company leaders say this is its first appearance in the U.S. They hope the $300 microchips can eventually be used on more than just snack machines — everything from air travel, public transit and storing medical information.

"We want to be on the forefront of this. This is something's that's coming," said Curt Giles, president at 32M, which operates 2,000 self-checkout kiosks for companies in 20 countries. The company is partnering with Sweden's BioHax International, where employees have been using the implants. Three Square Market is paying for the employees' microchips.

While the technology has raised privacy concerns because of the potential to track a person's whereabouts and purchases, officials at 32M said the data in the microchip is encrypted and does not use GPS.