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.
Bognár Szörp, the major employer and taxpayer of Pölöske (Zala County) announced the closure of its syrup factory and the subsequent dismissal of its 132 workers in the framework of a mass redundancy. The announcement of the measure came after the company had become unable to pay off its growing debt, and went into liquidation. These layoffs generated serious concerns in the village with less than 1,000 inhabitants, even though 40 ex-workers had been since re-employed by a renter who partially restarted production. Bognár Szörp, founded in 1989, was an important manufacturer of syrup, squash and other non alcoholic beverages (including its own mineral water). Besides its own labels, the company was a major supplier of retail chains also.
Eurofound (2009), Bognár Szörp, Bankruptcy in Hungary, factsheet number 68847, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/68847.