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.
BNP Paribas has announced 500 job cuts in its investor services subsidiary BNP Paribas Securities Services (BP2S) over three years, representing 20% of the workforce. The group said that the workforce reductions are needed to pursue sustainable and profitable growth, and to optimise its operating model and simplifying its organisation. For the moment, the restructuring envisages voluntary departures only. In 2019, the 100 planned job cuts are expected to be achieved through internal mobility or retirement.
At the same time, BNP Paribas is accelerating in Portugal, where labour costs are lower. The bank has also created a duplicate of its IT structures to ensure the continuity of BP2S service. The group had 4,931 employees in Portugal at the end of 2018, according to its registration document, compared with 1,454 at the end of 2013. BP2S's activity consists in holding and administering financial securities on behalf of pension funds, asset managers or banks. BP2S employs more than 12,000 people worldwide, claims €2,500 billion in assets under administration and €9,997 billion in assets under custody, placing it fifth worldwide, after the big American groups.
Eurofound (2019), BNP Paribas Securities Services, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 98371, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98371.