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.
Philips, the Dutch manufacturer of electrical equipment, has laid off 154 employees from its television production unit in Brugge, Flanders. The production unit was closed. The management announced the probable closure of the plant in December 2008. 127 blue-collar and 27 white-collar workers are affected by the collective redundancy. Philips intends to gather the television production unit in only one plant per continent. The European one will be located in Hungary. The objective of this is to counteract the losses the company has experienced in the manufacture of televisions.
Eurofound (2008), Philips, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Belgium, factsheet number 67897, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/67897.