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.
As announced on 13 June 2012, Swedish rolling-element bearing manufacturer SKF will cut 400 jobs in Germany. The decision is said to be based on the company's decreasing sales.
SKF implemented a cost reduction programme, which mainly affects German sites in Schweinfurt (Bavaria), Lüchow (Lower Saxony) and Mülheim (North Rhine-Westphalia). The company aims to avoid forced redundancies and will seek alternative measures to cut employment.
In total, SKF employs 6,600 people in Germany, 4,400 of them in Schweinfurt, and about 45,000 people worldwide.
The job reduction plan is to be completed by the end of 2016.
Eurofound (2012), SKF, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 73746, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/73746.