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.
Aikawa Hungária Electronics Kft, the local unit of Japanese-owned Exas Philippines Inc., is going to lay off 120 employees at its Dunaújváros unit in central Hungary, affecting mostly those working in the assembling units and performing manual labour. The company manufactures pressed steel parts of floppy disk drives for personal computers. The reason behind the redundancies, a company representative explained, is a drop in orders: one of the companies that Aikawa supplies to is off-shoring some of its production. The company representative stated that Aikawa is not moving the entire production out of Hungary (the destination is not known yet) and is planning to employ as many as 350 employees in the period ahead, as well as launching a major reorganisation and technological development programme with the aim of improving efficiency.
Eurofound (2006), Aikawa Hungária Elektronikai Kft., Offshoring/Delocalisation in Hungary, factsheet number 63910, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/63910.