Ethics in the digital workplace
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced that it will restructure its NatWest Markets division, which specialises in investment banking, making more than 130 jobs redundant. According to media reports, employees were given their redundancy notices via video calls, while they were working from home. It is unclear when the redundancies will take effect: a representative of the Bank said that affected employees will continue to receive pay until September 2020, while employee representatives said that the redundancies will take effect in June.
A spokesperson for the company said that the restructuring was announced in February 2020 and following the compulsory consultations with employee representatives it will be implemented to cut costs.
A representative of Unite the Union said that the bank should postpone the restructuring, because the affected employees will face significant difficulties in finding new jobs in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Eurofound (2020), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 100250, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100250.