France Seeks to Combat Workplace Suicides

France Telecom Chief executive Didier Lombard (2nd-R) and French Labor Minister Xavier Darcos (R)...

France Telecom Chief executive Didier Lombard (2nd-R) and French Labor Minister Xavier Darcos (R) give a press conference on September 15, 2009 in Paris after a France Telecom employee tried to kill herself at her workplace, as the formerly state-owned company faced calls for a parliamentary inquiry into a wave of suicides among its staff. The suicide bid comes just days after a worker threw herself from a France Telecom office window, the 23rd death in 19 months at the company, prompting a cry of alarm from unions and the French government.

(MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

France Telecom SA was mobilizing all 20,000 of its managers Monday in an effort to respond to a string of 23 employee suicides that unions blame partly on layoffs and restructuring at the telecommunications giant.

The latest suicide, and the one to spark top-level concern, was that of a 32-year-old woman who threw herself out a fourth-floor window of her office building in northwest Paris on Friday. The woman worked in the debt-collection service of the company's Orange subsidiary, and had been involved in discussions on restructuring.

Not all the France Telecom suicides were job-related and it wasn't immediately clear if the total of 23 over 18 months was more than would be expected normally in a population of 100,000, the size of the company's French work force. The French suicide rate was 15 per 100,000 people in the entire French population in 2004, the latest available year of data.

Related

Gen Y Risks Becoming New 'Lost Generation'

French Auto Workers Threaten to Blow up Factory

French Labor Tensions Rise After Worker Rampage

France Telecom has nonetheless announced a raft of measures in response to the suicides, including suspending around 500 employee transfers that are a part of an ongoing reorganization.

Management has asked employees to watch out for signs of depression and suicidal tendencies among colleagues.

On Monday the company's head of human resources held a conference call with France Telecom's 20,000 managers, who were to hold meetings with all employees.

"There will be a clear message to all the managers to quickly organize local team meetings to explain what happened and what's being done, and to make sure that if there are problems they can be discussed," said company spokesman Sebastien Audra.

France Telecom employees also held a moment of silence Monday in honor of those who have committed suicide.

Audra said no executives were available to be interviewed Monday on the suicides.

Unions say some of the suicides are linked to working conditions and have demanded that France Telecom halt restructuring measures that have seen around 22,000 jobs eliminated out of 100,000 in France between 2006 and 2008.