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 electronics retailer Cosmos filed for bankruptcy and will dismiss all of its 1,160 employees. The company has accumulated debts of €40 million. The bankruptcy procedure was initiated on 18 February 2010. All of the 27 electrical stores in the country were closed by 6 March 2010.
In 2006, Cosmos was acquired by the Austrian Value Management Services group and the German Nordwind Capital Company. The new owners subsequently reduced the number of the staff from 1,400 in 2006 to 1,160 in 2010. The workforce at the stores located in Vienna will be entitled to enter a regional re-employment scheme.
Eurofound (2010), Cosmos, Bankruptcy in Austria, factsheet number 70284, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/70284.