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.
Slovenske železnice (Slovenian Railways) announced mass redundancies. Altogether 1,000 employment contracts are expected to be terminated by the end of 2020. The CEO Dušan Mes mentioned redundancy plans in an interview from July and confirmed them again for the Slovenian Press Agency in August 2020. While layoffs are, according to Dušan Mes, necessary to ensure the profitability of the company, most of the redundancies will be carried out via ‘early retirement’ (workers given unemployment benefits until they fulfil retirement age requirement). The layoffs will bring the number of all employees to what has been assessed as an optimal 6,200 workers. Only a few years ago, 9,000 people were employed by Slovenske Železnice.
The company has reserved €30 million for severance payments in 2020.
Eurofound (2020), Slovenske železnice, Internal restructuring in Slovenia, factsheet number 101547, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101547.