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.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the British hamburger restaurant chain, has announced that it will close 26 of its restaurants across the UK, putting 362 jobs at risk of redundancy after it had been bought out of administration. The transaction has saved 35 sites and 669 jobs.
A representative of the administrators said the restrictions introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenges faced by many high street restaurant chains.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen employed just over 1,000 people before the pandemic started. The company had been acquired by Boparan Restaurant Group, which had also bought the restaurant chain Carluccio’s.
Eurofound (2020), Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 102264, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/102264.