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 Slovak subsidiary of Brazilian producer of compressors and cooling systems Embraco plans to cut around 200 jobs at its factory in Spiska Nova Ves. The planned redundancies are attributed to the long-term lower demand due to the COVID-19 crisis. According to the CEO Marcelo Borba, the factory has been struggling with a rapid fall in orders for over a month and in April and May 2020 it had to suspend its production several times.
The factory has around 2,150 employees and the planned job cuts should secure work and pay for the remaining workers. The company also applied for state subsidies, but this help is not enough to cover all losses. Embraco is part of the Nidec Global Appliance global division.
Updated, 5/10/20: In the meantime, the situation in the firm is stable and it has partially recovered from the fall in orders during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic - in Q2 2020 demand for products fell by over 35%. Recently, the plant re-employed 80 of the 240 previously dismissed workers.
Updated, 15/04/2021: Till now, the plant in Spisska Nova Ves has recruited around 400 employees, out of which 90 were re-employed among employees made redundant in 2020. The recruitment is attributed to the rising number of orders. Employment in the plant has reached the same level as before the redundancies - 2,150 workers.
Eurofound (2020), Embraco Slovakia, Internal restructuring in Slovakia, factsheet number 100804, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100804.