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.
Swiss manufacturer of underwear Triumph is planning to make a considerable number of redundancies among its workforce in Austria and China as part of a broader cost cutting drive. It has been reported that the company is planning to reduce its headcount by 350 in Austria, closing down two production sites (Oberpullendorf and Aspang) and reducing its workforce at company sites in Oberwart and Wiener Neustadt where the company has its Austrian headquarters (for more information see Triumph- AT2012).
According to a company’s spokesperson the job reduction measures will be put into place starting in autumn 2013 by which time a social plan for the 350 affected staff will be set up. Seamstresses are mostly affected by these redundancies. The multinational company, which employs around 36,000 staff worldwide, is planning to shift its production increasingly to Portugal and Morocco. Triumph is also planning to close one of its production plants in Hainan (China), which will result in a further 2,700 redundancies.
Eurofound (2013), Triumph, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 75216, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/75216.