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 British delivery company Deliveroo has decided to stop operating in Spain after the approval of the so-called "Rider-law" (Royal Decree 9/2021) which obliges the hiring of food delivery persons working as bogus self-employed. However, the company had already started to disinvest in Spain months before the law was passed. The company has agreed on a collective redundancy plan with unions that will affect its 3900 employees in Spain (3800 delivery workers and 100 headquarters workers), who will be compensated with 45 days' salary per year of work. In addition, a minimum amount of 1,000 euros will be guaranteed in case this amount is not reached through seniority and salary. The unions claim that these severance payments are gross and that fixed and variable incomes, as well as bonuses, will be taken into account for their calculation.
Eurofound (2021), Deliveroo, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 106015, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/106015.