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 Danish retail group, Salling Group, that owns the discount supermarkets Netto and Bilka among others, announced on 26 September 2019 that 200 jobs will be cut. Salling states that the restructuring will affect around 200 employees in the form of relocation, termination or changed employment conditions. The adjustment focuses on support and back office functions, which are not directly customer-facing roles. The company states that all the affected employees will be offered training in the interim period and an outplacement course that will continue until each employee is in a new job. The reason for the redundancies is that Salling wants to stay competitive on the market.
Eurofound (2019), Salling, Internal restructuring in Denmark, factsheet number 98822, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/98822.