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.
Microsoft has announced it plans to cut 10000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2023. The cuts will amount to just under 5% of its global workforce. The company has cited a 'slump' in the personal computer market and consequent drop in demand for Windows and accompanying software. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella stated that they believe consumers are optimising 'their digital spend to do more with less' and that uncertainty around the impact and length of a recession are reducing demand.
It is unclear which units will be most affected, and beyond the HQ in Dublin, the specific country offices which will experience job cuts have not been announced.
Resulting from the global restructuring, 120 employees have been dismissed in Ireland (Microsoft-2023-IE). During 2022, a business expansion by Microsoft in Spain, which will continue until end of June 2023, has been recorded in the ERM Events database (Microsoft-2022-ES).
Updated, 17/05/2023
Microsoft has confirmed that as part of its global resutructuring plan, 206 employees will be disimissed at its office in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France (Microsoft-2023-FR). In Ireland, the initial 120 job cuts have been increased by another 60, totalling 180 employees dismissed in Microsoft's office in Dublin, Ireland.
Eurofound (2023), Microsoft, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 108195, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/108195.