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.

NIDEC GPM, a German automotive supplier in the manufacture of pumps and compressors, has announced that it will cut around 270 of the current 573 jobs at its Merbelsrod site (Thuringia) by 2028, mainly in production. The job cuts will affect almost half of the workforce.
The job cuts are due to a predicted 50% decline in sales, the transformation in the automotive industry and geopolitical influences such as US customs policy. The job cuts are to be carried out in a socially responsible manner - for example by not renewing temporary contracts, early retirement and, from 2026, through termination agreements.
NIDEC GPM has been part of the Japanese NIDEC Corporation (around 100,000 employees worldwide) since 2015 and has been manufacturing pumps in Merbelsrod since 1949.
Eurofound (2025), NIDEC GPM, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 203055, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203055.