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.
Major supermarket chain, Asda has confirmed that it will reduce the workforce of its retail network by 500 jobs. Consultation with 5,000 staff employed in Asda’s stores commenced in January 2016 when the company announced a broad restructuring program called Project Renewal. While approximately 200 retail workers have been redeployed, 200 staff have already taken redundancy. A further 300 workers will be compulsory made redundant. At the same time, Asda reduced the size of its head office located in Leeds (see related factsheet). Along with other major UK retailers, Asda has faced competition from the foreign owned retail discounters Aldi and Lidl since they both heavily expanded into the UK retail market.
Eurofound (2016), Asda, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 86823, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86823.