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.
Taxi app company Beat has announced the closure of all global operations, creating a total of 900 job losses. Of the total company workforce, 100 people were employed in Amsterdam to develop and maintain the app, with the rest of the workforce spread between Latin American countries where the taxi service was in operation.
The lack of profitability for shareholder expectations, unfavourable market conditions and internal turnover are all cited as reasons for the discontinuation of Beat. Social partners have not been referenced in this closure process, however the company has stated internal processes are in place to help employees transition to partner companies, such as Free Now.
Founded in 2011 in Greece, Beat was acquired by Mercedes-Benz Group in 2017 for €40 million. Subsequently, the Group entered a joint venture with BMW to create a platform division, Free Now, where Beat merged with other brands to join the platform division. According to the company, 26 million customers and 800,000 drivers have used the platform to date.
The restructuring in The Netherlands has previously been recorded in the ERM Events database in 2022 (Beat-2022-NL).
Eurofound (2022), Beat, Closure in World, factsheet number 107762, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/107762.