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.
Imaginarium, the Spanish toy company with worldwide distribution, has announced to workers' representatives a collective redundancy plan affecting 125 employees out of a workforce of 144 people throughout Spain. This plan is linked to the decision to close its stores (around 40 in Spain) except of two located in Zaragoza and Malaga. The company has already begun the process of closure.
This announcement comes six months after Imaginarium filed for pre-bankruptcy to the Commercial Court of Zaragoza. Imaginarium had negative results in its 2019 financial year (- €8.29 million), which have worsened with the impact of COVID-19. With this restructuring, the company intends to reorient the business towards e-commerce and to change its consumer profile.
The CCOO Services Federation explains that the company has committed to present a viability plan for the business, but the union believes it will be difficult to carry it out with such a large workforce adjustment. The company has also committed to pay the January and February salaries, but CCOO claims that the company did not keep this promise in the previous collective dismissal process.
Eurofound (2021), Imaginarium, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 103615, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/103615.