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.
Japanese-owned Yazaki Wiring Technologies Lietuva, which produces bunched cables for the automotive industry, is to dismiss 148 employees in Klaipeda. The company provided the information to the Lithuanian Employment Service on 22 September 2020. According to the management, the primary cause of the dismissals is the COVID-19 crisis. It hurt the company‘s production, as almost all car plants in Europe were closed when the pandemic started in the spring of 2020. The company has already reduced the number of employees once this year – it dismissed 89 employees in April 2020. Currently, the company employs 862 employees.
Yazaki Wiring Technologies is a world-leading manufacturer of cable equipment for some leading brands such as BMW, Opel, Mercedes-Benz as well as many Japanese and Korean car manufacturers.
Eurofound (2020), Yazaki Wiring Technologies Lietuva, Internal restructuring in Lithuania, factsheet number 101930, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101930.