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 16 July 2014, the German paper mill Scheufelen is to cut 400 out of 650 jobs in Lenningen. The company has run losses over the past two years and names the decreasing demand for mass paper as the main reason for the restructuring. In the following months, the works council and management are to negotiate how to implement the job losses in a socially acceptable way.
The company had filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and a Finnish company acquired the paper mill. In 2011, Austrian Paper Excellence bought Scheufelen. There was no information given on the foreseen end date of the job reduction.
UPDATE 2014-10-30: As reported by "Der Teckbote" on 30 October 2014, management and works council agreed to reduce the number of job cuts to 343 from originally 400. The source refers to about 609 employees in total instead of 650, which results in a total of 266 jobs that will be maintained.
Eurofound (2014), Scheufelen, Bankruptcy in Germany, factsheet number 77369, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77369.