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.
Cemex, the new Mexican owner of RMC is to cut 750 British jobs in order to lower its costs - more than a tenth of the total workforce. A spokeswoman at RMC's, formerly known as Ready Mixed Concrete said 'It's no secret that the business has been underperforming. All aspects have been under review since it was taken over in March 2005'. RMC has been hit by a slowdown in road building which has led to overcapacity in the sector. It cut 520 jobs in 2003 as part of a corporate restructuring. RMC's overseas operations had been heavily hit by weakness in the German economy and has cut up to 5,000 staff in recent years. The company employs more than 20,000 people outside Britain. News of the Cemex takeover led to staff fears that work might be outsourced to low-cost sites in Mexico, but RMC said the cuts were not about outsourcing and its Tyneside call centre would not be affected.
Eurofound (2005), RCM, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 61778, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/61778.