Another example of the unwillingness of occupational health and safety (OHS) regulators feeling able to affect change in workplace mental health by looking outside the workplace is the United Kingdom’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Sadly this position contributes to unnecessarily stigmatising a legitimate workplace hazard. On a recent episode of the Safety and Health …
In 2009-10, SafetyAtWorkBlog followed the unfolding and tragic story of the spate of suicides at France Telecome that were directly related to the change of work practices and organisational policies instigated after privatisation. SafetyAtWorkBlog stated that the suicides could be considered to be a case study of poor personnel management and, in more recent parlance, … Continue reading “Lessons for everyone in the legal action against France Telecom executives over suicides”
In 2009, France Telecom’s management practices came to global attention as a result of a spate of over 20 suicides that were identified as work-related. On 6 June 2011, France Telecom released its Corporate Responsibility Report that covers the period of the management turmoil touched upon in earlier SafetyAtWorkBlog articles. The document is an impressive … Continue reading “France Telecome’s CSR report is telling but sets high expectations”
Workplace suicides are in the news at the moment due to Foxconn and, to a lesser extent, France Telecome. There is enough media attention for companies to start to evaluate their own risk exposures. Through LinkedIn, Tom Boudreau of R&R Insurance Services, issued the following advice under the title “Do Employers Have a Duty to Prevent Workplace … Continue reading “Suicide advice shows reactive thinking”
On 24 January 2010, the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, encouraged all Australians to increase their “productivity growth“. But what if increased productivity could result in developing a mental disorder? The February 2010 edition of the Harvard Mental Health Letter includes a report that lists the following key points: “Symptoms of mental health disorders may be different … Continue reading “Work harder? You must be mad”
The managerial turmoil at France Telecome over a spate of work-related suicides is likely to become a case study in failed change management, firstly, and public relations, secondly. A report in The Guardian on 6 October 2009, points to a (French) video of the company’s chairman and CEO, Didier Lombard, speaking to Telecome’s managers in January 2009. … Continue reading “France Telecome becoming a case study”
According to various media reports, a senior executive of France Telecome has resigned due to the mismanagement of the organisational restructure of the company which has been happening for almost two years and that, some say, has led to suicides. One report says: “France Telecom’s deputy chief executive Louis-Piere Wenes had faced calls to resign … Continue reading “Executive resigns over work-related suicides”
