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.
Tesco UK has announced that it will close its e-commerce website Tesco Direct, making 500 employees redundant. In a statement issued on 22nd May, Tesco UK’s chief executive officer said that the website will stop operating on the 9th July 2018 and the fulfilment centre in Milton Keynes, which handles the orders submitted through Tesco Direct, will close in August. The closure of Tesco Direct will also affect some staff at the company’s head office in Welwyn Garden City and at the Dundee Customer Service Centre. The company has entered into redundancy consultations with the trade union Usdaw.
The CEO of Tesco UK said that the website was not profitable and the decision to close it “is an essential step towards growing our business for the future." The national officer for the Usdaw union pledged that employees will be supported, advised and represented during this difficult period in order to get the best possible deal for them.
Tesco Direct was established in 2006 and sold non-food items, homeware, clothing, toys and electricals for home delivery or in-store collection.
Eurofound (2018), Tesco UK, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 94205, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/94205.