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.
Virgin Atlantic, the UK-based airline, has announced that it is closing down its contact centre at its headquarters in Crawley, England, making 150 employees redundant. According to the company’s spokesperson, the statutory consultation period with affected staff members has already started. The company is restructuring its contact centre operations by bringing all contact centre operations to another existing site in Swansea, Wales. A spokesperson for the company said: “Being located together will make it easier to operate a large 24/7 contact centre operation”.
The company’s Crawley site is the airline’s main training centre for crew, contact centre and engineering staff.
Eurofound (2018), Virgin Atlantic , Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 94693, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/94693.