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.
Grünenthal, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products, and the works council announced that 200 jobs will be cut the Aachen plant; according to management, the internal restructuring reacts to market changes which make it increasingly difficult to produce a variety of pharmaceutical products and is forcing Grünenthal to focus its future operations on biotechnology only. The precise number of job cuts was released after management and the works council finished negotiations. Direct dismissals shall be avoided; the workers shall leave voluntarily or via partial retirement. A precise time line has not been given.
Eurofound (2019), Grünenthal, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 98296, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98296.