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.
Oasis and Warehouse Limited, the company that includes British fashion chains Oasis, Warehouse, The Idle Man and Bastyan Fashion, entered administration in mid-April 2020, making 202 head office and retail jobs redundant with immediate effect.
Further 41 head office staff are now assisting the administrators and 1,801 employees are on paid temporary leave under the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme. These jobs are also at risk of redundancy as the administrators are trying to sell the business.
The administrators declared that the COVID-19 outbreak has strongly impacted Oasis and Warehouse. Nevertheless, commentators noted that the pandemic was only the last straw for the business.
Oasis and Warehouse are chains of fashion outlets operating in several countries, encompassing the UK, Ireland and Sweden.
UPDATE 30/04/2020
The administrators have announced that they were unable to find a buyer for the business and the Oasis and Warehouse chains will close their high street and online shops permanently, making 1,803 jobs redundant.
The total number of jobs lost is 2,005. An additional group of 42 head office staff remains in post under the administrators, but their jobs are at risk.
Eurofound (2020), Oasis and Warehouse, Bankruptcy in United Kingdom, factsheet number 100363, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100363.