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.
Finance firm Cheltenham and Gloucester has announced that it is to close 31 branches across the UK, resulting in the loss of 315 jobs. A spokesman for the firm said that the development of internet banking meant that fewer customers were using some branches. The firm, which has 195 outlets and employs 3500 in the UK, is owned by Lloyds TSB and focuses on providing mortgages, savings and other financial products. The firm also said that most customers who lost their local branch would find another outlet in a neighbouring town and could also use Lloyds TSB branches. ‘Closing branches is never a decision that we take lightly,’ said the firm’s managing director Jon Pain. ‘But with more customers taking advantage of technology, the number of customers coming through the doors in these particular branches has fallen. By closing these branches where customer use has dropped, we can invest in the branches that customers do use.’
Eurofound (2007), Cheltenham & Gloucester, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 65685, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65685.