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.
HAIX has announced the opening of a footwear manufacturing plant, and the creation of 170 new jobs in the North of Croatia. HAIX established its shoe production facilities in Croatia in 2009 with a factory in Mala Subotica, which employs 660 people. It has now invested a further €12 Million into shoe production in Croatia, bringing the total investment to €20 million.
Half of the new investment went towards expanding the current factory from its previous 12,000 m2 to a current 15,200 m2, whilst the remaining €6 million was spent on new equipment. When the new facility is running at full capacity, production increases from 6,000 to 10,000 pairs of shoes daily.
HAIX decided on the investment in Croatia for several reasons: the qualified workforce for shoe production in Medjimurje, and relatively few bureaucratic obstacles and the assistance of local government resulting in a 4-8 week time period in order to obtain all the necessary permits (for example, the building permit for the new facility was issued in one day)
Eurofound (2016), HAIX, Business expansion in Croatia, factsheet number 86687, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86687.