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.

Buderus Edelstahl, a German special steel manufacturer based in Wetzlar (Hesse), is cutting 450 to 470 of a total of around 1,120 jobs, with employees in the steelworks, administration, and forging departments being particularly affected.
The company was sold by Voestalpine to the Munich-based investment company Mutares in 2024. In the course of the restructuring, individual divisions were spun off: the hot rolling mill and mechanical processing, including heat treatment, are going to the Georgsmarienhütte Group, while the drop forge remains with Mutares subsidiary FerrAl United.
The steelworks with its electric furnace is to be closed by the end of October 2025; job cuts will mainly take the form of layoffs, although around 60 employees could be taken on by Georgsmarienhütte.
IG Metall and the works council reacted with dismay, announcing negotiations on social plans with severance payments and full pension provisions for older employees.
Buderus Edelstahl most recently generated sales of around €360 million.
Eurofound (2025), Buderus Edelstahl, Merger/Acquisition in Germany, factsheet number 203225, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203225.