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.
As announced on 17 November 2020, the German robot manufacturer Kuka will be cutting 270 jobs at its plant in Augsburg in 2021 due to internal restructuring. The CEO informed all employees that a job reduction is necessary due to the drastic drop in orders caused by the COVID-19 crisis. In detail, the value of orders has dropped by €500 million in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same timeframe in 2019. Negotiations with the workers union IG Metall have already started. IG Metall will focus on the exclusion of compulsory redundancies as well as adequate solutions for all affected employees.
Kuka has 3,500 employees in Augsburg.
In 2019, Kuka implemented a cost saving's programme which resulted in the loss of 350 employees (Kuka, 2019).
Eurofound (2020), Kuka, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 102582, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/102582.