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.
The Japanese chemical technology firm Fujifilm, best known for its production of photographic film, has announced that 89 jobs will be lost at the Tilburg plant, where production mainly consists of photographic paper and offset plates. The job cuts are deemed necessary in light of the continuing fall in demand for both products, which has made the structural costs of production too high. Most jobs to be lost are blue-collar, factory-based positions, whereas 14 white-collar jobs will be lost because of centralisation of office activities in other parts of Europe. 60 employees are expected to be dismissed, 29 will be relocated to other parts of the company, and the remainder will be left to natural attrition. Fujifilm has been struggling to develop new products to offset the decline of analogue photography, which in 2006 led to the discontinuation of the production of film rolls in Tilburg and hundreds of job losses. Although new products are now being produced in Tilburg, such as synthetic gelatin and gas and water purification membranes, the drop in oil prices has negatively influenced the performance of the latter products.
Eurofound (2016), Fuji, Internal restructuring in Netherlands, factsheet number 87493, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/87493.