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.
Conergy, a manufacturer of solar cells and solar moduls, announced that about half of the staff at the premises in Frankfurt (Oder) will be dismissed. The company employs around 1700 employees worldwide and is owned by a consortium of six foreign hedge funds and private banks since August 2011. The Frankfurt site had employed a total of 750 persons in 2010 (including temporary agency workers). In the past months, most of the temporary agency workers were dismissed. Restructuring plans involve running the Frankfurt (Oder) site with a staff of 350 which means all temporary agency workers and around 100 other employees shall loose their jobs. An additional 10 to 40 posts are at risk at the headquarter in Hamburg.
The reason for downsizing is related to the fierce competition from especially China. The management representative of Conergy stated that the prices of solar cells have declined by 30% in the first half of 2011.
Eurofound (2011), Conergy, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 72363, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/72363.