After a France Telecom employee committed suicide last Friday by jumping out of her office window, French labor minister Xavier Darcos has scheduled a meeting with the telco's Chairman and CEO Didier Lombard tomorrow to talk about a raft of employee suicides. Darcos' concerns are certainly justified. In the past year, 23 France Telecom employees have committed suicide.
Morale at the French telco has been on the decline in recent years. Unions attribute the series of employee suicides to FT's ongoing transformation from a government-owned telco to a private service provider that now offers wireline and mobile services through the Orange brand. France Telecom has laid off 22,000 employees in the past three years during the ongoing restructuring process.
For more:
- Wall Street Journal has this article
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