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.
German printer of bank notes, payment solutions and smart cards Giesecke & Devrient announced plans to extend their site in Leipzig increasing their workforce from 350 to 400 employees with the company also investing in new machinery. The extension will concern the printing of bank notes (Euro notes as well as other currencies).
With the aim of concentrating the company's bank note printing sites in one place, the company's bank note print site in Munich was closed down in 2015. In conjunction with a cost saving plan this previous restructuring resulted in the reduction of 680 positions. However, the management highlights that in the majority of cases socially acceptable solutions were reach and only a handful of redundancies took place. Against previous speculations, the company has decided to keep its headquarters in Munich where they currently employ 1,700 members of staff. Giesecke & Devrient employs around 11,400 people worldwide.
Eurofound (2016), Giesecke & Devrient , Business expansion in Germany, factsheet number 88632, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88632.