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.
Baker McKenzie, the US-based international law firm, has announced that it is expanding its services centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The expansion will create 150 new jobs in legal and business services, including finance, corporate support, marketing and IT. The company opened its Belfast offices in 2014, and currently employs 300 people.
The executive director of Baker McKenzie’s Northern Ireland division said that the Belfast offices are “a major innovation hub” of the firm, adding that "We have introduced a number of initiatives here that are not only benefiting our clients but have a direct impact on our financial performance”. In its coverage of the news, the BBC highlights that global professional service firms are drawn to Northern Ireland in part because salaries and office costs are lower than to those in the US and other part of the UK.
Eurofound (2018), Baker McKenzie Global Services, Business expansion in United Kingdom, factsheet number 94694, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/94694.