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.
British Petroleum (BP), the multi-national producer of oil, has announced that it is to cut approximately 1,150 jobs in the UK. As of February 2008, it is unknown when the job losses will be implemented by and the exact locations in the UK that will be affected. However, it is thought that the group's site in Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey will be affected.
The job cuts are part of a worldwide restructuring programme in which BP are cutting a total of 5,000 jobs at locations in the U.K, U.S., Europe, and other sites in the rest of the world. The announcement of the restructuring programme follows a decline in the group’s profits in the fourth quarter of 2007, and the job losses are intended to improve the competitiveness of the group. According to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, 30 per cent of the job losses will be in the UK, 30 per cent in the U.S., 20 per cent in Europe, and 10 per cent in the rest of the world. Mr. Hayward's calculation includes 350 job losses that were announced at BP's site in Aberdeen in the UK in October 2007. BP employs approximately 115,000 globally. As of February 2008, there is no information on the number employed by BP in the UK.
Eurofound (2008), BP, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 66271, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66271.