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 Auchan hypermarket in Mulhouselo, which has been closed from the beginning of the year due to inventory, will be officially closed and its 124 employees will be dismissed. The Auchan group is looking for a buyer of the site to minimise job losses, but the chances of a takeover seem slim. The decision was announced by Auchan's management following an extraordinary works council meeting. The store had already been threatened with closure for several years. The site never managed to take off economically since its establishment in 1998. According to the Auchan group, the shop's annual losses range from €500,000 to €1 million. In a press release, the management has expressed commitment for providing individual support for internal and external mobility. The measures will be subject of negotiations with the representative bodies of the hypermarket. Several restructuring events at Auchan have been recorded on the ERM database - the most recent is a reorganisation on national-level with 1,475 job cuts (FR-Auchan-2020).
Eurofound (2023), Auchan, Closure in France, factsheet number 108184, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/108184.