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.
Alliance & Leicester announced that it is to close one in seven of its branches. Such large scale redundancies in the branch network seems to be counter to the trend among retail banks such as Barclays which have been recruiting more front-line staff to deal with customers face to face. The former building society is to shut 46 outlets employing 330 people by October. The Alliance & Leicester Group Union of Staff (Algus) believes the timing of the closures breaches an agreement with the bank, prompting the union to consult its lawyers. An A&L spokesman said the bank would try to offer redeployment opportunities to the 330 staff affected by the branch closures but could not rule out compulsory redundancies.
Eurofound (2004), Alliance & Leicester, Merger/Acquisition in United Kingdom, factsheet number 60391, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/60391.