Daily Telegraph staffers arrived at work today to a fun, new surprise: A black box attached to their desks that’s tracking their every movement. Since the news broke this morning, HR reps have been, per BuzzFeed, “frantically rowing back on it,” and the paper’s union is apparently trying to intervene.

According to BuzzFeed, the paper declined to notify staffers it was installing motion and heat detectors at their desks. But as journalists are wont to do, they noticed the boxes this morning and promptly googled them.

The newspaper confirmed the move in email to staff after multiple employees said that they had come into work on Monday morning to find small plastic monitoring boxes attached to their desks.

Journalists were baffled by the unannounced appearance of the boxes. Staff resorted to googling the brand name and discovered they were wireless motion detectors produced by a company called OccupEye which monitor whether individuals are using their desks.

In a staff-wide email, the company claimed it’s only using the sensors to become more energy efficient, though as BuzzFeed notes, the OccupEye website brags the device is equally great for companies looking to downsize offices or combine desks. Either way, everything about it is creepy as hell:

Update 3:40 p.m.

According to Telegraph spokesperson Deborah Burgess, the boxes have since been removed.

“In the light of feedback we have received from staff today, it has been decided to withdraw the under-desk sensors immediately. We will be looking at alternative ways to gather the environmental sustainability data we need, and will keep staff in touch with any new proposals.”

Image via OccupEye. Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.