Wave of Workplace Suicides. What’s Happening?
EmailABC's Christophe Schpoliansky reports from Paris:
A wave of employee suicides or attempted suicides continues to affect France Telecom SA. Yesterday, a 53-year-old woman tried to kill herself in a Metz office of the telecommunications giant by swallowing pills. She had just been told that her mission was over and that she would be subject again to geographic mobility. The woman survived and is now out of danger. The day before, a 32-year-old woman threw herself out of a fourth-floor window of her office building in Paris. She had been involved in discussions on restructuring. Unions blame this wave partly on layoffs and restructuring at France Telecom.
In all, 23 employees over 18 months have committed suicide. 100,000 people work for the French telecom company.
According to the INSERM (the national institute of health and medical research), the French suicide rate was 17.1 per 100,000 people in the entire French population in 2006, the latest available year of data.
The French state owns 26.7% of France Telecom and 70% of its agents are state employees.
Today, the President of the company is scheduled to meet with the French labour minister to discuss the situation.
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What is sad to me is that the bank execs that screwed us over didn’t have the same guts to toss themselves out the window.
Posted by: Huh | September 15, 2009, 9:59 am 9:59 am
There is no provision to prevent the personal destruction of lives, in these economic times.
Indeed, there is little or no regard for people, whatsoever.
One of the forgotten aspects of entrepreneurship, is that one of the goals of business, is to provide jobs and well being, for people. To do less, is short-sighted.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | September 15, 2009, 2:27 pm 2:27 pm
“A wave of employee suicides or attempted suicides continues to affect France Telecom SA.” – ABC News
Maybe this is due to a wave of self realization from the employees that they are French and have to live in France.
: o )
Posted by: Noz | September 15, 2009, 2:34 pm 2:34 pm
They kill themselves because they believe they will lose everything they have. These are not people who have time to go home and kill themselves at home. They are doing it at work to make a statement to their employers and get attention. Not all who attempt suicide do it to kill themselves. Some don’t really want to die, they just want the problem fixed.
Posted by: Jamie | September 15, 2009, 2:36 pm 2:36 pm
23 suicides over 18 months is about 16 per year. That’s 16 per 100,000 employees, which is lower than the national suicide rate of 17.1 per 100,000. So why the big deal about this particular telecom?
Posted by: Jason | September 15, 2009, 2:47 pm 2:47 pm
This from a country that has placed a monetary value on “happiness” and has the gall to add that value to their GDP that they post!
Posted by: Don | September 15, 2009, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
I used to work for a large telco and resigned before my stress-induced ailments killed me. I spoke with a coworker recently and all our peers are dead (age 50s) of cancer. Coincidence?
Corporations consume workers as management seeks their own success. Whether they work you to death or drive you to jump out a window – the result is the same.
Posted by: mthermit | September 15, 2009, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
The dangers of Socialism show themselves here. These people don’t even realize that they have options. They’ve been trained to be taken care of by Big Daddy until they can see nothing else. Sad and also a warning to America to stop with this idiotic rush to leftist ideals.
Posted by: jon | September 15, 2009, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm
How sad that workers in a society that led them to believe they would be taken care of feel they have no alternative other than suicide. I think the American worker is so much stronger and capable of weighing options. This is because we had HAD to be so…..no free lunch here.
Posted by: Rose Brown | September 15, 2009, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
“geographic mobility” … sounds almost like chattel slavery to me! Sold “down-river” by her employer/”owner”.
France Telecom SA may be a bit more than one-quarter government owned, but it sounds like it is operating like any big corporation: putting its workers into the corporate “blender” and expecting to pour them into molds of its choosing.
Posted by: Jordan | September 15, 2009, 3:09 pm 3:09 pm
The company needs to be held responsible for laiding off so much people, knowing that this could possibly happen! If they are going to lay-off employees (especially during a severe recession), the company should pay each employee being laid-off a years salary to give them time to find a job in this recession. It would also help ease the burden on the fragile unemployment compensation. Companies that lay-off workers during a recession need to be held accountable.
Posted by: Neteret01 | September 15, 2009, 3:10 pm 3:10 pm
Geeze I though us here at the Labor Dept had it rough. Oh well at leaast I have a job.
Posted by: jenny | September 15, 2009, 3:16 pm 3:16 pm
I used to make $60K, I now make $18K. I used to pay $1K rent I now pay $500.00 (not as good a neighborhood).
THIS IS IMPORTANT – family, friends – don’t jump off the bridge! Go to family/friends. Change your life – make your lifestyle NOW fit your pocketbook. Find small treasures to cherish not material things – get a bike, ride it, have family singalong at home, games, poetry, art…you can survive…I am sad but I have to keep moving forward! You do too!
Posted by: So Sad | September 15, 2009, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
was wondering why this was news as well Jason. The death rate is lower than the average deaths so why are the making a big deal about it?
Posted by: rylin25 | September 15, 2009, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
@SoSad – You’re ABOVE ground! The only statement one makes from suicide is…I’m dead! No more income to be made. You can’t get a raise or a new job if you’re dead.
Posted by: Gerald | September 15, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
the suicide rate is below the national average but this one stands out because it’s not a random sample of french people…it’s kind of like a ‘cancer cluster’…when a high number of people in a particular geograpic area get sick there is something wrong…it’s not a representative sample
Posted by: kb9039 | September 15, 2009, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
Oh Well!
Posted by: russ | September 15, 2009, 4:01 pm 4:01 pm
Agreed with those who think this is a non-story: the suicide rate at the Telecom is the same as the French population overall – actually, one might expect it to be higher than reported at the Telecom given all the bad news being doled out. Why anyone would kill themselves over a job is beyond me.
Posted by: Earl | September 15, 2009, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm
Do the math. 17 average a year in France. 23 in 18 months at the company. they actually have a rate lower, yes LOWER than the national rate.
Posted by: Ken Pritchard | September 15, 2009, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
Besides suicides, heart attacks and other stress-induced problems should be monitored.
I worked in a school system in the USA where 33% of the 12 high schools’ Athletic Directors had heart attacks in a decade up through the mid 2000s.
90% of teachers were I worked, including me, retired or quit this decade. Much was due to stress. The year after I quit teaching science, 2007, two of my fellow science teachers (out of 14) there had heart attacks and died.
The stress in the workplace is becoming 3rd-worldish.
Posted by: The_Mick | September 15, 2009, 4:42 pm 4:42 pm
funny and tragic at the same time…..socialism sucks and isn’t very SOCIAL
Posted by: Ziggy | September 15, 2009, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
Too much emphasis on money and keeping up with the Jones isn’t the way to lead a happy life. Scale down, it’s not easy to find cheap rent I know. If you are lucky enough to have a house pay it off. Pay a portion into the principle each month if possible. Make it your priority. Pray daily, when a door closes usually a window opens up..keep your hopes up. Never despair. God helps us out and a good attitude will make us better people. As Cliche as all those platitudes sound it’s still the best way to live a happy and productive life.
Posted by: Sharon | September 15, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
Ziggy, mthermit, et al.: this is not “socialism” at work – it is an example of government-shielded CAPITALISM run amok. The French government owns just enough of this corporation to be concerned and to suppress workers’ rights laws for sake of profit – but not enough to be able to actually keep the corporation itself from trampling those workers’ rights at will! It is perhaps the ultimate form of bribing government watchdogs.
Posted by: Jordan | September 15, 2009, 5:02 pm 5:02 pm
Are you guys saying that you don’t find it compelling that the suicide rate of employees at a particular company is nearly equal the entire country’s national average? I do.
Posted by: whistle | September 15, 2009, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
A year pay to lay people off ? Give me a break. The company is trying to survive and what socialistic societies cannot grasp is there is no right to have a job. You are not guaranteed work and while sad layoffs are a normal part of the business cycle.
Posted by: Brian | September 15, 2009, 5:46 pm 5:46 pm
jon- this “socalist” france also is ranked number 10 for over all life expentency ( US is ranked # 42 ! ! ) and has a child poverty rate of 7.2% vs the US child poverty rate of 22% ! ( a pathetic and very very sad percentage). also france is ranked number 9 for infant mortality and the US is rated number 29. (we’re a sad country by most heath standard, just open your eyes to the numbers )
Posted by: dap | September 15, 2009, 8:24 pm 8:24 pm
“one guy in this comment says that they realize they are french and living in france!this is sick.” – jean~louis touillon
Hey Jean Baby, lighten up.
Did you miss the smilie face?
That’s a clue it was a joke.
If you really want to get upset, go to iTunes, search for French Stench and buy that tune.
It is sure to sour any day you wish to listen to it.
: o )
Posted by: Noz | September 15, 2009, 9:31 pm 9:31 pm
Agree that workplace-induced stress kills, and it seems to be getting worse, with longer work days, penalties for taking time off, and a reduction in benefits. Over time, I’ve seen the eight hour work day disappear, along with one hour lunches, and vacations where you didn’t have to check in via cell phone or email. I know people on “vacation” who are still on the corporate leash! This story should be a wake up call to everyone – there are some things more important than earning a big paycheck and getting the next promotion. Your job title should never be the bulk of your personal identity.
Posted by: As I See It | September 15, 2009, 9:44 pm 9:44 pm
If the company has 100,000 employees and the suicide rate matches the national rate per 100,000, I don’t see any cluster.
Mr McDaniel, several points.
1 Do you really believe the company is responsible for their employees mental health? What do you think would happen if an employer approached an employee and told them the company thought they needed mental health counseling? They’d get sued. In France, they might get fined for invading the employee’s privacy, and the union would file a grevience and probably strike. I just went through this nightmare with a mentally ill employee I really liked and had great compassion for. That said, I could not afford to risk lawsuits by attempting to be compassionate by letting the employee know I thought they needed help. Result, termination. Heck, don’t dare call a family member and tell them you’re worried about the employee, then you’ll be sued for invading the employee’s privacy.
2. No company can show much compassion for employees if the company is losing money or suffering market contraction. Is it compassionate to keep all employees on the payroll until the company runs out of money, or to lay off a percentage of the workforce so the company can survive, and continue to offer 90,000 jobs instead of 100,000.
3. In France, it’s almost impossible to get fired, resulting in very low mmobility, or opportunity for layed off workers. The State has created rules that seriously harm a middle aged worker seeking a new job, not the former employer. In the US, we do it differently. Rather than avoiding hiring people at all costs (because you vcan’t get rid of them) We hire at will and lay people off if business is slow or the economy tanks. Do you think it’s more compassionate to avoid hiring people? Would you rather have a decent job for a year and lose it, or be unemployed for the year?
4. This is the telecom business. The internet, VOIP, Skype, and free long distance have decimated profits at old line telecoms, and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been eleminated or replaced by computer engineers. France Telecom is at the mercy of those market forces. Exactly what would be your solution for a shrinking employer in danger of going out of business?
Posted by: Dave C | September 16, 2009, 1:03 am 1:03 am
isn’t it refreshing to see that it isn’t just American Corporations who don’t give a damn about their employees?
I’m glad I won’t be around 100 years from now to see the 2 class system which will dominate the entire “civilized” world…..
Posted by: dk | September 16, 2009, 2:00 am 2:00 am
well, i can’t understand. but, i’ll endeavor to understand that news.
because i am a korean
Posted by: jamie | September 16, 2009, 7:10 am 7:10 am
What is sad to me is that the Democrats who supported Fannie Mae that screwed us over didn’t have the same guts to toss themselves out the window.
Posted by: Huh | September 16, 2009, 7:17 am 7:17 am