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.
Nokia has announced job losses following last October's acquisition of French telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent. The job losses, taking place between now and the end of 2018, are part of a wider drive to cut €900 million in operating costs. 1300 jobs will be cut in Finland, 1400 in Germany, 200 in Italy, and 400 in France, although there will be 500 new research and development posts created in France. The job losses will largely come as a result of deduplication of jobs created through the merger, as processes are streamlined. The merger is part of a move by the company to diversify between fixed and mobile telecommunications to compete with companies such as Huawei. The Finnish government has intervened, asking for European Union Globalisation Funds to assist the 1300 job losses the country will undergo.
Eurofound (2016), Nokia, Merger/Acquisition in European Union, factsheet number 87371, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/87371.