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.
Whirlpool Sweden, a Swedish white goods manufacturer, has announced that it is to cut 40 jobs in Norrköping following a decision to move the production of printed circuit boards for their machines abroad. Whirlpool has 382 employees in Norrköping. The reduction is aimed at lowering the production costs but also at making the factory in Norrköping more competitive in the long run.
It has been reported that the production of printed circuit boards might probably be offshored to Flextronic's factory in Hungary. This information has yet to be officially confirmed.
Eurofound (2012), Whirlpool Sweden, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Sweden, factsheet number 73983, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/73983.