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 workers of the Douglas perfume chain have ratified on 25 April 2022 the pre-agreement of the ERE between the company and the trade union representatives. As a result, a total of 124 shops will be closed (12 fewer than originally planned), affecting a total of 900 workers (a hundred below the company's initial targets). In this way, this measure implies the closure of more than 60% of the current Douglas shop network in Spain and around half of the workforce.
Douglas will prioritise voluntary redundancy. In addition, the agreed severance pay is 32 days per year worked, with a limit of 21 monthly payments. The agreement includes "accompanying" measures, including a better distribution of the working day in the warehouse "to promote work-life balance", and a new incentive system linked to the achievement of objectives in each shop.
Precisely, last year the company signed another redundancy programme that led to the departure of a significant number of employees and the closure of shops (see Douglas2021-ES).
Eurofound (2022), Douglas, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 106703, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/106703.