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 Finnish technology company Nokia is planning on cutting up to 190 jobs in Finland. Around 90 of the planned reductions would hit the company's Tampere unit. The timeline of the reductions is not stated. The reductions concern the Nokia Technologies section of the company and are due to the failure to reach expected results within the firm's virtual reality business. The operations of Nokia Technologies are instead to be focused on digital health products, which target both consumers and medical stakeholders. In addition to the reductions in Finland, another 120 jobs will be lost in the United Kingdom and the United States. Nokia announced reductions of its workforce in Finland previously in the summer 2017.
Update 17/01/2018: Following concluded negotiations, Nokia Technologies has announced 80 jobs will be cut. The number decreased from the originally announced 190 thanks to successful relocation of employees into new tasks, especially within product development. The remaining job reductions are expected to take place during early 2018.
Eurofound (2017), Nokia, Internal restructuring in Finland, factsheet number 92249, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/92249.