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.
Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the biggest hotel-operator of the Nordic countries, Scandic, announced its plans to dismiss up to 2,000 employees in Sweden. Travel restrictions and cancelled events have had a significant impact on the booking rates of the company and the economic result of the month of March is much weaker than expected. In order to adapt to decreased demand for hotel services, the company plans also to cut the number of personnel with fixed term contracts and to make cuts to the salary of the executive board. The Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union estimates that 15,000 people working for the Swedish hotel and restaurant sector risk losing their jobs due to the corona outbreak.
Eurofound (2020), Scandic, Internal restructuring in Sweden, factsheet number 100028, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100028.