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.
Jerónimo Martins Drogerie i Farmacja, which operates as a chain of drugstores under the Hebe brand and a pharmacy chain under the Hebe Apteka brand, announced the closure of the pharmaceutical business. As a result, the pharmacy chain is closing down and 290 people will be made redundant. All affected employees, depending on their length of work and other factors, will receive a package of benefits up to three times the legal requirements. The programme will be implemented by the end of September 2020.
The decision to liquidate the pharmacy chain is related to the restrictions that have emerged on the Polish pharmacy market. As a result, the company could not implement its plans to achieve the necessary scale effect in this industry. The chain decided to focus exclusively on drugstores, as the format with the greatest potential for development of the cosmetics business.
Jerónimo Martins Drogerie i Farmacja has been operating in Poland since 2011.
Eurofound (2020), Jerónimo Martins Drogerie i Farmacja, Closure in Poland, factsheet number 101488, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101488.