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.
Hamburg based Goodgame Studios is set to reduce its workforce, as it moves away from making PC games into mobile and browser based strategy games. Initial announcements of 100 job cuts have been upgraded to 200-600, as the company moves to one campus and shuts down its PC game division. The move affects staff at its Hamburg premises, many recruited from overseas, and all staff hired within the last six months will be automatically let go. The company has seen a decline in its revenues over the last two years, precipitating this move to cut staffing expenditure. The reduction is expected to be completed by the end of September, and several employee assistance mechanisms have been put in place to assist the procedure, including reimbursing expats and a good voluntary redundancy package.
Eurofound (2016), Goodgame Studios, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 88379, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88379.