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.
The supermarket chain Tesco announced that it will implement a collective dismissal programme which will cause up to 200 redundancies at logistics division across Poland by the end of November 2021. The source reports that the cuts will affect up to 180 rank-and-files and up to 20 managerial roles. The programme will be carried out between late June and 30 November 2021, and the conditions of the redundancy programme will be negotiated with the local trade unions.
The restructuring programme is related to retailer's withdrawal from Poland. Tesco revealed that the decision was taken due to economic reasons. On 12 March 2021, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued an approval for the acquisition of 301 shops and 2 distribution centres by Salling Group.
Tesco has been operating in Poland since 1992.
In 2019 and 2020, the company already announced seven other restructuring programmes: January 2019 (1,300 jobs cut), June 2019 (1,480 jobs cut), August 2019 (2,154 jobs cut), September 2019 (2,117 jobs cut) November 2019 (224 jobs cut), January 2020 (380 jobs cut), June 2020 (200 jobs cut), September 2020 (899 jobs cut), March 2021 (1,200 jobs cut) and April 2021 (316 jobs cut).
Eurofound (2021), Tesco, Internal restructuring in Poland, factsheet number 104925, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/104925.