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.
British fashion retailer Primark, which specialises in low-priced fashion, announced around 420 job cuts by closing its Primark shops in Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld, Frankfurt-Nordwestzentrum and Kaiserslautern.
The company justified the job cuts by citing over-representation in some locations and the resulting lower profitability of the German shops.
The closure of the shops will eliminate about 420 jobs until the middle of 2024. Negotiations with employee representatives have already begun. The company says it wants to make the job cuts as socially acceptable as possible.
Primark is an international clothing company that employs more than 70,000 people in 16 countries in Europe and the USA.
Eurofound (2023), Primark, Closure in Germany, factsheet number 109164, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/109164.