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.
Plant hire company Hewden has entered administration and has issued a total of 343 redundancy notices. Ashtead Plant Hire group has bought three divisions of the group, resulting in the transfer of 133 jobs. Initially administrators EY announced that 251 staff had been given redundancy notices, with 92 further redundancies confirmed a week later.
Hewden had issued a statement in October 2016 forewarning of trouble ahead and had suggested that the decision to leave the EU had contributed to market uncertainty. At the time of entering administration Hewden employed 745 people across various roles. It is not known what the fate is for the remaining jobs; previous efforts to secure a complete buyout of the company had proved unsuccessful.
UPDATE 16/12/2016: Jobs at former Hewden depots at Bangor and Warrington have been saved following the purchase of these sites by Ashbrook Plant Hire. This has resulted in 251 jobs being saved.
Eurofound (2016), Hewden, Merger/Acquisition in United Kingdom, factsheet number 89316, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/89316.