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.
VCST Industrial Products, a company that manufactures parts for the automotive industry has announced it will be dismissing 171 of its 427 employees. The company management wants to reduce its activities in order to make the company profitable again. In the future the company wants to invest more in automation and further digitisation. The reduction of demand for carsĀ is an important reason for this shift within the company, according to a company spokesperson, as is the COVID-19 health crisis which will see a sharp reduction in car registrations this year.
Eurofound (2020), VCST Industrial Products, Internal restructuring in Belgium, factsheet number 100789, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100789.