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 24 June 2021, the German financial institute Sparkasse in Frankfurt will dismiss 140 full-time employees by 2025 due to internal restructuring. The affected positions relate to staff of the branches (60%) as well as to employees at the headquarters (40%). The step is related to the planned closure of 17 out of 60 branches until the middle of 2024. Furthermore, Sparkasse Frankfurt will be creating around 50 new jobs for digital consultations. Sparkasse Frankfurt expects that only 20% of its customers will be using its branch system in the future. Consequently, Sparkasse Frankfurt is optimising its processes and will focus on online banking with the premise to reduce its annual personnel costs by €10 million.
Currently Sparkasse Frankfurt has 1,400 employees in Germany.
Eurofound (2021), Sparkasse Frankfurt, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 104967, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/104967.