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.
Huscompagniet is a leader Danish housebuilder. The housing market has been hit hard by rising inflation, rising energy prices and rising interest rates and the company has experienced a decline in demand for new houses. Since January, 41 employees have been dismissed by Huscompagniet and the company is now planning the dismissal of further 46 employees, due to the decline in demand. Currently, the company employs 400 people in Denmark, therefore it is dismissing over 10 per cent of its workforce. Overall, throughout 2022 it will have dismissed 87 people, consisting of 19 percent of the workforce.
In the first half of 2021 Huscompagniet sold 1,347 houses. In the first half of 2022 sales dropped to 732 houses. The company has not experienced a similar drop in demand since the financial crisis. As part of the restructuring, the company will close its office in Horsens.
UPDATE (01/11/22): Huscompagniet will dismiss another 60 employees and close its offices in Aabenraa, Viborg, Randers, Næstved and Hillerød. The reason is that the demand for new houses continues to go down.
Eurofound (2022), Huscompagniet, Internal restructuring in Denmark, factsheet number 107247, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/107247.