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 manufacturer of electric motors for automotive Inteva Products has engaged an employment saving plan for its sites at Esson (Calvados) and Sully-sur Loire (Loiret). The reorganisation will lead to cut 73 positions: 51 at Esson out of a total workforce of 284 employees and 22 at Sully-sur-Loire on a total of 198 employees. Overall, the plan leads to cut about 15% of the workforce. The management wishes to implement the plan in the beginning of 2019 and has also announced the creation of 10 positions at Sully-sur-Loire. Inteva Products is specialised in the design and manufacture of electrical components for the automobile as electric motors for window lifts and seats.
The management justifies its decision by the need to specialise its three French factories, the company has also a site at Saint-Dié (Vosges), to strengthen its competitiveness in a context of tension on prices. A tension due, according to the group, to a slowdown in the global automotive market and increased competition from players in Eastern Europe and Asia. The company has to cope with a decrease of 18% of its production volumes between 2014 and 2017. Inteva Products has 9 factories in Europe where it employs 3,500 people (15,000 worldwide).
Eurofound (2018), Inteva Products, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 95738, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/95738.