We live in a world of high expectations. Being successful and aspiring to maximum achievement takes important role in every business environment. Because of this, it is necessary to find a balance between the expected profit and the attainability of it all. Expectations have to be used to motivate people in order to reach the company’s objectives but they have to be realistic and therefore realizable.
France telecom doesn’t seem to master this crucial element in the world of business corporations. A couple of days ago another two employees of the French telecom concern committed suicide. Since the beginning of January, already five employees died by their own hand. The reason for their death would be the ongoing reorganization of the company and its consequences. This has resulted in an increasing workload and unstable management. This isn’t the first suicide, and it sure won’t be the last. Although I must say due to governmental pressure important progress will be made in the near future. On the other hand, the facts can not be ignored. If we take a look at the statistics we clearly see that during the past two years there were more than 30 cases of suicide concerning employees of France Telecom, which brings the balance on 37 deaths in two years time. These acts of despair were probably all due to the wave of re-structure in the company.
As I already mentioned, because of the structural internal problems, negotiations with governmental representatives started early September. The government also keeps a close eye on the situation of France Telecom. On the twentieth of this month France Telecom has announced that there will be a new CEO in March because of the criticism concerning the suicide discussion. We now know that S. Richard will replace D. Lombard as Chief Executive Officer. Shareholders expect that the new CEO will do some key adjustments in the long-term strategy of France Telecom. With these measures they hope they can put an end to this dreary situation.
I’m convinced of the fact that the health of the employees is more important than the profit of the organization. I can understand that the management doesn’t have such an easy job finding solutions to this problem. It’s also not effortless for the management to retrieve information about the personal situation of every employee. In my opinion France Telecom needs to set up a new division that continuously informs about the personal situation of the employees. I think the human resources department really has some homework to do in order to make progress in this situation. France Telecom has probably focused too much on the financial part of the reorganization and didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that bigger expectations have a bigger influence on the situation of the employees. It’s always important for a company to keep the employees motivated and to make sure that goals can be reached. Every single employee is a link in a broader chain within the organization.
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France telecom doesn’t seem to master this crucial element in the world of business corporations. A couple of days ago another two employees of the French telecom concern committed suicide. Since the beginning of January, already five employees died by their own hand. The reason for their death would be the ongoing reorganization of the company and its consequences. This has resulted in an increasing workload and unstable management. This isn’t the first suicide, and it sure won’t be the last. Although I must say due to governmental pressure important progress will be made in the near future. On the other hand, the facts can not be ignored. If we take a look at the statistics we clearly see that during the past two years there were more than 30 cases of suicide concerning employees of France Telecom, which brings the balance on 37 deaths in two years time. These acts of despair were probably all due to the wave of re-structure in the company.
As I already mentioned, because of the structural internal problems, negotiations with governmental representatives started early September. The government also keeps a close eye on the situation of France Telecom. On the twentieth of this month France Telecom has announced that there will be a new CEO in March because of the criticism concerning the suicide discussion. We now know that S. Richard will replace D. Lombard as Chief Executive Officer. Shareholders expect that the new CEO will do some key adjustments in the long-term strategy of France Telecom. With these measures they hope they can put an end to this dreary situation.
I’m convinced of the fact that the health of the employees is more important than the profit of the organization. I can understand that the management doesn’t have such an easy job finding solutions to this problem. It’s also not effortless for the management to retrieve information about the personal situation of every employee. In my opinion France Telecom needs to set up a new division that continuously informs about the personal situation of the employees. I think the human resources department really has some homework to do in order to make progress in this situation. France Telecom has probably focused too much on the financial part of the reorganization and didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that bigger expectations have a bigger influence on the situation of the employees. It’s always important for a company to keep the employees motivated and to make sure that goals can be reached. Every single employee is a link in a broader chain within the organization.
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I fully agree with this opinion. The management of a company has to motivate its employees in the first place. Once an employee is motivated, he or she will work better and harder. That kind of approach ensures the company will be run better. A company that is well run will probably score better. So I think motivated employees are the basic of running a good company.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThis article gave me a good summary of the events concerning France Telecom that have happened in the past few years. As you also mention in your text, I really think this is a structural internal problem. I must say measures have already been taken to reduce the pressure on the employees in this company. two of those measures are for example reinforcing the local Human Resources teams with around 100 members of staff and further strenghtening the occupational medicine and social assistance teams in terms of their headcount and their resources. About five months ago, there was a letter in which one of the employees who wanted to commit suicide criticised the board of directors of the company and the management team. This letter, known as ‘DYDO 5403′, kept the highest boss responsible for the large number of suicides in his company. The theme of letter was actually the lack of 'identity'. It said that there's no room for freedom of speech, that tasks are very repetitive and there's nearly no confidence in the capability of the employees. The employee who wrote the letter said that the past suicides had nothing to do with financial or family problems but simply because of the poor management of the company. That is where the challenge is located for France Telecom. For example, the motto of Nokia is the following: 'Connecting people'. I hope these kind of promotion lines can be an inspiration for France Telecom.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI've heard from this company before and the suicides but I wonder why all these suicides happen in one company when there are so many others with the same problems. I think the problem is the state of mind of the people that work there. If you have lots of stress, and you really can't take it anymore, get another job. I know it's not easy in these economical times but I would rather be unemployed than dead. But that's my opinion.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIt is probably difficult for those people to find an other job. Because of the workload these people turning into a depression. Maybe they aren’t able anymore to find a new job. Certainly this times, because of the economical crisis, many people are scared to loose their job and to become unemployed.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI really think the company has to solve the cause of the problem, by changing the management in the company. Like Annelies said, motivating your employees is a really good start.