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.
It was announced that the Estonian branch of the Nordic banking group Danske Bank will be closed down by the end of 2019. This means that all employees - currently 238 - will lose their jobs.
Due to their strategy, Danske has gradually reduced offering everyday banking products to clients in Estonia and they planned to focus only on subsidiaries of Nordic customers and global corporates in the Baltic States. However, in February 2019, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority ordered Danske Bank to cease banking operations in Estonia due to suspicious transactions in Estonia in 2007-2015. This will be done during 2019.
At the same time, Luminor Bank also announced dismissals during 2019 (altogether 130), which means that there will be around 370 baking employees unemployed. The Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund stated that although there are plenty of jobs available currently, most of these are targeted at blue-collar workers.
Eurofound (2019), Danske Bank, Closure in Estonia, factsheet number 97168, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/97168.