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.
Odelo Slovenija, a subsidiary of the German based Odelo (owned by the Turkish Bayraktarlar since 2012), is located in Prebold in Savinjska region. Odelo produces lightening equipment (complex taillight systems and LEDs) for main automobile producers, like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche. After the purchase of the old premises from Mura (the textile company in bankruptcy proceedings), the company is setting up a new production unit in Črešnjevci (Prekmurska region). Odelo has already launched the assembly of rear car lights while still renovating the space for further expansion of production.
Odelo Slovenija now employs 900 workers all together and, according to the director, intends to employ “few dozens of workers” more in the next year. Journalists (N. Koražija and M. Bertoncelj) claim that, according to their own sources, the number of newly hired workers will be much higher. Mura’s bankruptcy manager says that several hundred of employees will be hired due to Odelo's business expansion.
Eurofound (2015), Odelo Slovenija, Business expansion in Slovenia, factsheet number 85792, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/85792.