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.

Zalando, a German online clothing retailer in the e-commerce sector, has announced the dismissal of around 450 jobs in Berlin as part of a reorganisation of its customer service; all employees of the three internal customer service units are affected.
The restructuring involves the closure of the three internal units and the creation of a new internal entity with approximately 200 jobs in late summer 2025. The new roles will focus on complex customer enquiries such as fraud cases, while general requests such as shipping status will continue to be handled by external service providers. All dismissed employees will be eligible to apply for the new positions.
The job losses take the form of direct redundancies, with all 450 redundancies communicated simultaneously by email. Talks with employees and their representatives are already underway, with the aim of finding a mutually agreeable solution and mitigating the impact of the restructuring.
Zalando, headquartered in Berlin, currently has over 15,000 employees worldwide. The last major restructuring of Zalando in Germany was in 2018 Zaland - DE.
Eurofound (2025), Zalando, Closure in Germany, factsheet number 202685, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/202685.