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.
Irish state-owned Anglo Irish bank has announced plans to cut 350 jobs. Up to 130 of these cuts will take place in the Republic of Ireland (see related fact sheet), while the remainder are expected in the bank's other locations. This is the first wave of redundancies as part of the winding-down of the bank. The full winding-down is expected to be completed by 2020. It is hoped that the cuts will be achieved through voluntary redundancies, although compulsory redundancies are still possible.
Talks between union representatives and management are underway. The general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials Association, Larry Broderick, is reported to have called on Anglo to offer staff the standard industry severance offer, of six weeks pay per year of service plus statutory payments, up to a maximum of 130 weeks. However, the bank's last round of redundancies involved less generous terms (four weeks per year of service up to a maximum of 52 weeks). The Irish Department of Finance expressed their intention to treat staff fairly while making the banking sector on a more sustainable footing.
Anglo Irish operates in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, London, Manchester, New York and Boston.
Eurofound (2011), Anglo Irish Bank, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 72284, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/72284.