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.
The publisher, The Guardian will cut 310 jobs as part of a restructuring aimed at breaking even within the next three years, 60 of which will be cut by not filling currently vacant positions. Around 100 journalists and 150 support staff will lose their jobs. The cut to editorial staff accounts for around one-seventh of its UK editorial team.
While the company has said that it aims for the redundancies to be voluntary, it may be forced to compulsory retrench workers if not enough volunteers come forward. The National Union of Journalists has stated its opposition to compulsory redundancies and has called on The Guardian to explore other ways to cut costs rather than cutting its workforce.
Eurofound (2016), The Guardian, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 86839, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86839.