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.
British food delivery platform Just Eat announced its intention to hire 1,000 couriers, starting from the beginning of March 2021. The company also announced that recruits will be hired as employees, in line with the 'Scoober' model.
After negotiations with the trade unions, the company announced that the term and conditions of the employment contracts will be set according to the Italian collective agreement applying to the logistics industry.
Recruitment will start in Monza (Lombardy) that will be the first city where the 'Scoober' model will be tested from March 2021. The project, then, will be expanded to the Northern regions of Veneto and Emilia Romagna. By the end of 2021, the model will be operating in 23 Italian cities, and 1,000 couriers will be hired in the first two months of the implementation only. The company also plans to establish in Milan the first hub on the Italian territory.
Updated, 15/06/2021: On the 30th of March, the collective agreement was signed by major Italian trade unions, entailing the regularisation as employees of 4,000 couriers who were previously working as self-employed. The process will be finalised by the end of 2021.
Eurofound (2021), Just Eat , Business expansion in Italy, factsheet number 104758, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/104758.