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.
Hugo Boss Group, the leading German clothing manufacturer, will cut 150 out of 2,800 jobs in Germany. The company announced that a social plan is already settled. An agreement concluded with the works council in 2008 which aims to safeguard the production sites and employment for five years, is said to stay in place. No precise timeline is given as to when the job cuts will occur.
According to the company, the job cuts form part of an internal restructuring programme to "lean up ways of decision making and steering of global growth".
Handelsblatt notes that Hugo Boss has been facing a decline in profits since 2008, when the majority of its shares were purchased by the German private equity firm Permira. Hugo Boss is in debts because of declared extra dividends to Permira which takes these dividends to pay for its purchase of Italian fashion company Valentino.
Hugo Boss Group employs a total workforce of 9,500 worldwide. There is no information on job cuts occurring outside Germany.
Eurofound (2009), Hugo Boss Group, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 67848, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/67848.