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.
Armani is shutting down the Giorgio Armani Swiss Branch, after 20 years. The company intends to relocate most of its employees to its Milan site; however this is a conditional offer and employees are required to accept a reduced salary (from €4,000 to €1,500). The Swiss site in Mendrisio is going to keep 10 employees, while 40 are going to be laid off, according to the latest news. However, Armani's medium term plan is to fully close the Mendrisio site. Armani opened an administrative center in Mendriso (Switzerland) twenty years ago. Despite higher salaries than in the home country, Mendrisio has attracted fashion companies due to fiscal advantages. Recent changes in the local taxation has greatly reduced the attractiveness of the region, and Armani is not the first company closing or reducing its subsidiaries.
Eurofound (2016), Giorgio Armani, Reshoring in Italy, factsheet number 246, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/246.