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.
Food company 2 Sisters Food Group has announced plans to close its operations in Smethwick, West Midlands. The site, which is a poultry production facility, employs 630 workers. The owners have stated that the reason for the closure is the age of the facility, which has been operating since 1996. The company has launched a formal statutory consultation process over the proposed closure, but has already stated that it intends to offer up to 200 relocation opportunities for affected staff through converting agency to permanent roles. In addition the company has said that it will seek to redeploy staff to its other sites in the West Midlands and across its wider group wherever possible.
UPDATE 05/06/2017: It has been announced that 290 of the 630 workers at the 2 Sisters Food Group plant in Smethwick have been relocated to other sites in the company's portfolio. Exact information on the new locations of the workers has not been reported, but it is understood that they will be working in other operations across the West Midlands. Two hundred and fifty workers have accepted voluntary redundancy packages and the outcome for the remaining 90 workers has yet to be determined. The site is due for closure at the end of June 2017.
Eurofound (2017), 2 Sisters Food Group, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 90847, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/90847.