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.
After the acquisition of several banks Italian banking group UniCredit plans for a massive European-wide restructuring to reduce costs. According to Financial Times Germany, UniCredit plans for new large 'product and clearing plant'. Administrative functions of seven countries will be centralized in Poland. The new 'plant' will employ about 7,000 persons. Another plant employing about 6,000 is planned to centralize IT-operations of German Hypovereinsbank, Bank Astria and of UniCredit. German HypoVereinsbank (HVB), a member of the group and the second-largest German private-sector bank with more than 22,700 employees, 680 branches and over 4 million customers, will be affected by drastic outsourcing and offshoring plans. According to FTD, HVB will be reduced to a 'distribution centre'. HVB's core competences include private and corporate customers, real-estate finance, capital market transactions as well as asset management.
On 2 May it was announced, that HVB will outsource a total of 1,800 jobs, out of these 250 clearing jobs will be offshored to Poland. HVB will thus be the first German bank to offshore core competence jobs to another country. No further information is available on the delocalisation measure. 1,550 jobs will be outsourced to UniCredit affiliates or external firms in Germany. Out of these 300 jobs in mailing and logistic services will be outsourced to an external service provider and 1,200 IT-related jobs to UniCredit-affiliates. No precise time line is given.
Eurofound (2008), HypoVereinsbank, Offshoring/Delocalisation in European Union, factsheet number 66589, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66589.