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 Johnson Service Group (JSG), the British company that makes work wear for factories and provides linen services for hotels and restaurants, has announced that it will cut 1,550 jobs to save costs, as demand for its services has decreased in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The majority of the job cuts (1,350) will be in the firm’s hospitality division, while 200 jobs will be cut from the work wear division, including 80 job losses at the company’s work wear plant in Newmarket, England.
The chief executive said the group had taken 'the right steps' to prepare the company for the time 'when the recovery emerges'.
The Johnson Service Group provides its services under a number of brands, including 'Johnsons Hotel Linen' and 'Johnsons Restaurant & Catering Linen'. The company has 16 sites across the UK and it employed more than 6,000 people at the end of 2019.
Eurofound (2020), Johnson Service Group, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 102683, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/102683.