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.
Polyone, a multi-national group that operates in the chemical sector and manufactures a range of chemical products, has announced that it is to close eight sites in the United States and UK with the loss of 240 jobs. Seven of the plants are based in the United States, whereas one is based in Bolton in the UK. Management at the firm have stated that 90 employees will have their jobs transferred to remaining production sites, and the remaining 150 are likely to be directly dismissed. As of July 2008, there is no information on how the job losses will be distributed between the sites. A senior manager at the group stated:
‘After conducting a thorough review of our entire operation, our business teams identified opportunities to further align our capacity and production assets to improve the effectiveness of our global manufacturing footprint.’
Stephen Newlin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the group, stated that the closure of the sites was attributable to recent high raw material and energy costs, and weakened demand for the group’s products from the housing and automotive sector.
As of July 2008, there is no information on when the closures of the sites and job losses will be implemented by. Polyone employs 4,600 internationally and operates approximately 38 sites. In 2007 it had an annual revenue of USD 2,632 million (€1,783 million)
Eurofound (2008), PolyOne, Closure in World, factsheet number 66974, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/66974.