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.
Panasonic, a Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer, has announced the closure of its Czech facility for LCD panel manufacture and the dismissal of all 615 employees by the end of 2012, due to financial difficulties and low sales.
The plant, located in the Triangle industrial zone near the city of Žatec, was opened in 2007. Panasonic faces heavy losses worldwide (9.6 billion USD during fiscal year ending in March 2013). Mass dismissals have negatively affected the region, which has one the highest unemployment rates in the Czech Republic (13.2%).
Eurofound (2012), Panasonic, Closure in Czechia, factsheet number 74416, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/74416.