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.
Roy Lowe & Sons is a family-owned company established inĀ 1996 in UK where the company produced socks until 2006. At that time, it decided to offshore and outsource production activities in China, Turkey and India to reduce production costs. In 2013, the company launched a new brand (SockMine) for its lines of technical, sport specific, leisure and work-wear socks; moreover, it decided to leverage on the "Made in UK" label. Therefore, it restarted production activities in its old plant in Sutton in Ashfield. Between 2013 and 2017, the company reshored around 10% of its entire production. Higher product quality, reduction in delivery time, better protection of innovation, and co-location of R&D and production activities were the main reasons for reshoring.
Eurofound (2017), The Sockmine, Reshoring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 37, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/37.