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 insurance company Tryg Forsikring is restructuring and have recently adjusted the number of jobs to be cut to in Norway up to 100 full-time equivalents. Tryg has almost 1,200 employees in Norway, about 900 of whom are located in Bergen. The Danish company had previously indicated that 60 positions could be cut in Norway, but has now confirmed that the cuts will amount to 100. 29 employees have been offered severance packages. The upwards adjustment of job reductions was made in response to the proposed five percent additional tax on salaries and profits in the financial sector, which the Government plans to introduce from 2017. The company has stated that this tax will accelerate an already ongoing restructuring effort in Tryg and act as an incentive, also for other companies in the financial sector, to relocate tasks such as IT-services to low-cost countries.
Eurofound (2016), Tryg Forsikring, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 88882, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88882.