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.
Croatian oil company INA's subsidiary Crosco, which drills for oil and maintains oilwells, will lay off 200 hundred workers in the next months. At the end of 2019, the company employed about 880 people. INA confirmed that dismissals will occur because the company has been significantly affected by the crisis. The crisis has been reflected in the fall in oil and gas prices on world markets and the simultaneous decline in demand for other oil-based products, which at the time of the standstill caused by the coronavirus pandemic was up to 50 percent. The company therefore had to take a number of operational and financial measures aimed at stabilising its operations.
Crosco, for the first time since its establishment, has had periods with reduced and even zero working hours. The company's revenues are many times lower than costs. Since the beginning of this global crisis until now, due to the significant cessation of business activities and the consequent cessation of the need for work, almost 90 percent of Crosco employees have been released from work with the right to salary compensation.
According to INA, after the restructuring, Crosco will be focused primarily on servicing the needs of INA, but they are not intending to close the company. The legal process of consulting with the Workers' Council is currently underway. In accordance with internal acts, employees who will leave the company are provided with significantly greater rights than the rights prescribed by the Croatian Labour Law, specifically regarding the severance payment.
Eurofound (2020), Crosco, Internal restructuring in Croatia, factsheet number 100950, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100950.