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.
The IT consulting company Teleca is going to cut 220 jobs in Western Europe, among which 150 in Sweden (65 in Umeå). In Sweden, Teleca plans to concentrate its activities in the Malmö region. The company also plans to significantly increase the software production and testing in the Russian affiliate. The county boards for Ronneby, Umeå and Stockholm in Sweden have been given notice that the company has the intention to possibly reduce staff with 150 people and close Teleca Mobile part of these local sites. Negotiations with trade unions have already been initiated.
René Svendsen-Tune, CEO of Teleca, explained that the financial performances were not satisfactory and that further actions needed to be taken. 'In the company we have strong assets, which we can leverage better, such as our well performing Russian affiliate. By significantly ramping up our R&D in Russia, we can maintain current strong R&D efforts at significantly reduced cost', he said.
Eurofound (2006), Teleca, Internal restructuring in Sweden, factsheet number 64262, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/64262.