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.
Honda has announced plans to cut 800 jobs in Swindon because of declining demand across Europe. It blamed lowered demand for cars in Europe for its move and stated that demand had declined by one million cars in the past year. The company has entered a 90-day consultation period and aims to avoid forced redundancies.
Honda employs 3,500 people at the Swindon plant. Only last year, it hired an additional 500 people there (see here). There is no indication when the job cuts will be implemented by.
Updated, 03/05/13 Honda stated that the actual number of achieved job losses was smaller than originally announced. There were a total of 592 job losses, 554 implemented via voluntary means and only 38 through compulsory redundancies, which was regarded as a significant development by trade unions. The company also announced that 188 of vacant posts would not be filled as part of the restructuring.
Eurofound (2013), Honda, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 74758, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/74758.