Employees Fear Surveillance in a Metaverse Workplace

pcmag.com:

While the multiverse is a popular theme in movies and shows, the metaverse has been vying for a similar position in our cultural life. Fashion brands have been outfitting avatars, people are finding partners, and Facebook has pinned its entire identity to the metaverse. But is it a place where you’d want to work?

With workplaces so scattered and decentralized by the pandemic, the idea of a metaverse office has been pitched as a way for employees to share a space virtually from wherever they are physically. ExpressVPN decided to do some digging(Opens in a new window) to see how welcome the concept is with employees and employers, by surveying 1,500 of each. 

Less than 2% of those surveyed work in a metaverse environment. Only 6% of employees said they'd prefer to work there, but 12% of employers said they had the space in mind for future plans.

By and large, employers are more into metaverse office spaces (77%) than employees (57%) are. But employees who wouldn’t mind working in a virtual office said their interest was driven by increased work-from-home flexibility (45%), an easier way to collaborate with coworkers (36%), increased job opportunities (33%), the ability to travel virtually (33%), more social interactions (32%), the replacement of conference-call tools like Zoom (31%), infinite custom workspace (29%), gaining a competitive advantage in the workforce (25%), fewer barriers for those with physical limitations (24%), the ability to create an avatar (24%), less commuting (23%), and the ability to be compensated in cryptocurrency (17%). 

The top worry employees have about the metaverse relates to privacy.  A majority (63%) are concerned about the access employers would have to their data. For employees with