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 media group Axel Springer has announced that it will cut about 100 jobs by closing its printing plant in Ahrensburg (Schleswig-Holstein).
The reason given for the closure is the energy supply, which was previously carried out jointly with the Prinovis printing company. The printing plant will also be closed by January 2024. For the company, it does not make economic sense to supply the printing plant with energy itself. The company does not want to invest money in building its own new connection due to the declining printing business. Operations are to cease by the end of July 2024.
The trade union Verdi speaks of earlier wrong decisions. The union holds the management responsible for the closure because they failed to prepare for the foreseeable scenario of a closure of the neighbouring plant.
Eurofound (2023), Axel Springer , Closure in Germany, factsheet number 108830, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/108830.