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.
Siemens' Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser announced that 850 jobs will be eliminated worldwide due to a decrease in orders. The health-care division is doing well and will achieve an additionall EUR 100m in savings; however, the unit head predicted that it will take restructuring charges of as much as EUR 100m in 2010 for the 750 additional redundancies.
Apart from further streamlining its healthcare business, Siemens also announced it is closing a Munich production facility of its Electronic Device Manufacturing (EDM) unit, as it spins off the business, shedding 100 jobs. According to FTD, the Munich unit currently employs a workforce of 650.
Bloomberg quotes Siemens' Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser saying on 29 September that Europe's biggest engineering company cut its global workforce from 420,000 to 408,000 since September 2008. Siemens shed 5,000 jobs alone at its Osram lighting unit, Kaeser said. FAZ cites Kaeser saying that the current restructuring programme involves the cutting of 16,750 jobs - 5,250 in Germany and 12,000 in administration and distribution.
FTD comments that Siemens is the first company that comes out after the federal election saying that more jobs will be cut than previously planned. Kaeser's report is a strong warning to German industry, particularly to the car manufacturing industry.
Eurofound (2009), Siemens, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 69665, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/69665.