Catherwood LibraryILR School

There have been 24 suicides by employees at France Telecom in the last year and a half, a number of which have appeared to be related to workplace issues. Although France is generally considered a great place to work by labor standards, it seems the economic crisis has hit it in some unusual ways. At France Telecom, job security protects two-thirds of its workers, meaning that the company has had to look for alternatives to layoffs in order to cut costs. Over 20,000 voluntary layoffs have been made in the last two years, and many employees say they feel a sense that the company is 'trying to get them to quit.' Reorganization means that over half the employees have changed jobs or job locations is the last five years, increasing feelings of chaos and stress at the workplace.