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.
Swedish power company Vattenfall has announced plans to cut 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Half of the cuts will affect administrative positions. The cuts come in response to a fall in the company’s first quarter earnings, which Vattenfall has linked to falling electricity prices and increasing production costs.
The company also announced plans to close two Swedish nuclear reactors earlier than planned, between 2018 and 2020 instead of, as previously announced, around 2025.
Vattenfall continues the process of divesting its German lignite operations, which employ approximately 8,000 staff. However, the process faces delays due to concerns over the proposed coal levy in Germany.
Vattenfall operates in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany and Britain. More than 11,000 of the company’s 31,000 staff are located in Germany. The cuts continue a downward trend in Vattenfall’s workforce, which stood at 40,000 in 2010.
Eurofound (2015), Vattenfall, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 83087, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/83087.