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.
Banking group HSBC is cutting up to 3,500 jobs in Britain on top of 4,000 jobs that were transferred overseas announced in October 2003 and the bank cut of 1,400 posts in July 2003. The vast majority of those affected by the cuts are in the British head office, and in support and processing functions. Some of the jobs that are going - as many as 550 according to Unifi - are being moved abroad to HSBC's service centres in Asia. At the same time, the bank will be taking on up to 1,000 extra people to work in its branch network. The finance and banking services union Unifi condemned what it said was a ‘savage' jobs cull, and warned that industrial action was a possibility. HSBC said it had committed £2million to provide a programme of careers and financial counselling. The bank will seek to redeploy staff into roles across Britain.
Eurofound (2004), HSBC, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 60393, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/60393.