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 Private Banking unit of the Dutch bank ING, managing private funds, is hiring 100 private bankers on top of its current 600 private bankers. The bank intends to expand its market share in private banking, as it is a banking activity that requires little capital investment on the bank's behalf and is thus less sensitive to the current low interest rates, and is potentially profitable because of the commissions charged. This expansion of personnel is particularly pertinent as the rest of the organisation has seen significant job losses since the bank announced a reduction of 1700 employees and an additional 1075 external personnel in November 2014, which was to be spread out over the following three years. Just recently the bank announced a reduction of 300 jobs in the department servicing small and medium-sized enterprises.
Eurofound (2016), ING, Business expansion in Netherlands, factsheet number 87654, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/87654.