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.
P&O Ferries, the UK-based ferry company has announced that it will cut 1,100 jobs, with 614 seafearer redundancies in Dover, 122 in Hull, and the remaining job cuts affecting officers and ‘shore-side’ staff. The company has agreed to voluntary redundancies, however, it has not revealed how voluntary redundancies compares to compulsory ones.
A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said that the jobs cuts were necessary to adapt to the reduction in passenger transport caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trade unions are challenging the plans and there is also widespread public criticism of P&O’s decision, because the company has received large public funds to subsidise the salaries of staff placed on paid temporary leave under the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
P&O Ferries operates between the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company is a subsidiary of Dubai-based company DP World, which also owns a number of ports in the UK.
Eurofound (2020), P&O Ferries, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 101081, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101081.