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.
Mars Wrigley France, a subsidiary of the Mars Group known for its chocolate bars, has announced a 'transformation project' involving 216 job cuts. These are likely to impact in particular on the group's employment at headquarters in Haguenau (Alsace). This project 'would imply the elimination of 216 jobs, including 184 field sales jobs spread throughout France, out of a workforce of 1,600 employees', according to the management. The company justifies this decision by the 'continuous decline since 2016' of its markets and the 'deflationary dynamic' caused by the 'price war' in the mass retail sector. This reorganisation should enable it to 'safeguard its competitiveness' in the hope of 'returning to sustainable growth'. The manufacturer has a factory specialised in chewing gum in Biesheim (Haut-Rhin) and another ice-cream production site in Steinbourg (Bas-Rhin).
Eurofound (2020), Wrigley France Confectionery, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 102693, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/102693.