France Telecom is putting together a stress-reduction package worth up to £900m in its latest attempt to arrest a spate of staff suicides. The group is looking at allowing employees aged 57 and above to reduce their hours if they feel full-time work is harming their health. The move follows the telecoms company’s suspension of its restructuring plans as concern mounts over the deaths of 25 employees in 18 months. The terms of any package have yet to be finalised and therefore no exact figure has been put on its cost, but bosses have confirmed that 1bn euros (£895m) is in the ballpark. One employee told The People Bulletin that a large employee opinion survey had recently been sent round.
The wellbeing woes of mobile operator Orange’s owners hit the headlines back in September when details of what was in the staff suicide notes were revealed. Angelique Christafis, writing in The Guardian1 reported on 5 October 2009:
‘The deputy chief executive of France Telecom today resigned in the wake of a spate of staff suicides that unions have blamed on a bullying management style and brutal approach to restructuring. The former state monopoly, now Europe’s third-biggest phone company, has seen its brand name, Orange, suffer a public relations disaster as 24 workers have killed themselves in shocking circumstances in the last 18 months, with at least a dozen others making failed attempts to take their lives. Some staff were found dead in their workplace or left harrowing notes blaming the company for ‘management by terror’ and bullying. In the latest death, a 51-year-old threw himself off a bridge in the Alps after being moved from a back-office job to one in a call centre. Previously, a 32-year-old jumped from her office in front of colleagues at the end of the working day. Both left notes blaming unbearable working conditions and enforced job changes.’
While nothing this side of the English Channel has aroused quite so much publicity, bullying in the workplace remains all too common and HR professionals have a real challenge in identifying it and stamping it out. ACAS produces a helpful information pack 2 and the TUC provides a summary of the legal position, some practical advice on how to deal with it and details of support groups for victims3. The TUC claim that the recession has fuelled an increase in the problem. According to the TUC safety reps survey in 2008, bullying was a concern at work for one in five safety reps (20%) a 25% increase since the 2006 survey (16%). In 2004, 12% of safety reps reported bullying as a concern at work.
The national ban bullying at work day falls on 7 November 2009 and the National Bullying Helpline4 have made the following plea on their website: ‘Each year we have marked the day in memory of Andrea Adams and Tim Field and all those who have dedicated their lives to eliminating workplace bullying. Please consider organising an event at work on either Friday 6th November or Monday 9th. Thank you.’
[1] www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/05/telecoms-france
[2] www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=797
[3] www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/index.cfm?mins=30
[4] www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/index.html