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.
Holiday provider Lowcost Travelgroup has gone into administration, causing the loss of all 451 jobs associated with the company. The company had been running since 2004, providing low cost flights and accommodation. The majority of these jobs are based in Poland, with 120 in Crawley and the rest in Switzerland and Majorca.
The abrupt bankruptcy has been blamed on interplay of four factors; competition, the UK’s EU referendum, the strengthening of the Euro against the pound, and the threat of terrorism. The firm has already ceased trading, with customers abroad and that have made bookings (27,000 and 11,0000 respectively) advised to seek compensation; 60% of these customers are British nationals. The company had a turnover of £500 million (EUR 596 million) last year. The company moved to Spain in 2013, such a move entailed that their customers were no longer under the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Atol protection scheme.
Eurofound (2016), Lowcostholidays, Bankruptcy in World, factsheet number 88230, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88230.