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.
ZKW Group, an automotive lighting supplier, has announced a restructuring that will cut around 2,300 jobs worldwide by the end of 2027.
In Austria, around 600 jobs will be eliminated in Lower Austria, mainly at the company’s headquarters in Wieselburg, where approximately 570 positions will be cut, while a further 30 jobs will be lost at the Wiener Neustadt site. A voluntary social plan has already been negotiated with employee representatives for the affected Austrian workforce.
The job reductions are part of a comprehensive cost-reduction and efficiency programme launched in response to difficult market conditions in the automotive sector.
ZKW had already reduced its workforce by around 600 jobs by the end of 2024 under an earlier savings programme.
Headquartered in Wieselburg, ZKW operates 12 sites in 8 countries worldwide (Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Mexico, India, Korea, China, and the United States), employs around 10,000 people globally. Since 2018, the company has been part of South Korea’s LG Group.
Eurofound (2026), ZKW , Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 203981, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203981.