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.
Drilling company North Atlantic Drilling is to cut at least 250 employees, after it failed to secure a new contract for the rig West Venture. The company was competing for a contract to operate the rig for Statoil at the Johan Sverdrup oil field in the North Sea, but lost to Odfjell Drilling. When the story was first reported in June 2015, the exact number of dismissals was uncertain, but union leader Arild Jenssen in SAFE in North Atlantic Drilling stated that around 200 employees would be made redundant.
At the end of September, Jenssen stated that the number of dismissals will be higher than 250. He was reluctant to give a precise number, but said that it ended up higher than they had thought and hoped for. According to Jenssen, the list of names selected for dismissal is ready, and written confirmation to affected employees was to be given at the end of the month. After the cuts, about 800 employees will remain in the company. Most of the employees affected are located on the west coast of Norway.
North Atlantic Drilling cut about 200 jobs in the fall of 2014, as the rig West Navigator went off contract. Several other drilling companies are currently downsizing as a result of the fall in crude prices and the reduced activity in the North Sea.
Eurofound (2015), North Atlantic Drilling, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 84239, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/84239.