just john Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Suicides at French Telecom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Without wanting to sound callous, some employees who had been working in a "job-for-life" nationalised company seem to have found the transition to a competition-driven privatised business rather difficult.The same thing is happening at EDF/ERDF.http://www.google.co.uk/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&ned=uk&hl=en&q=france+telecom+suicides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 FT employees on the news tonight quoted such things as bring moved around in the firm without being consulted, and other consequences of 'restructuring' that would bring a wry smile to the lips of those who have seen similar ( and more serious) things happen years ago in the UK.Expectations of 'acquired rights' are much more deeply anchored in the consciousness of the French worker, and the stress that comes from the changes is correspondingly greater.When I first came here I thought that attitudes to these things were very behind. Now I am not so sure. I am certainly prepared to listen to the argument that calls for better shares and conditions for those who work as opposed to those with only a financial interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 France Télécom: l'Etat actionnaire veut répondre au mal-être des salariés (France Telecom: the state shareholder wants to respond to employees' malaise) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I must be a very unfeeling woman whose temperament borders on the psychopathic, you know, being unable to empathise with fellow human beings.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I hear of the occasional suicide here in the sticks and I cannot help but think it is used as the ultimate weapon.I'm sure there are many depressed people who cannot see any other way out of their life, but in most of the cases I hear about, there's often a somewhat perverse sense of revenge, of making someone pay, whether it's a wife who has left or a manager who has given a negative appraisal...Tin hat on and ducking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 In my experience Clair, it's the people who talk about suicide are the ones that don't do it. The ones that say nothing will be the ones that do it. Sometimes revenge, perhaps, but the two I've had close association with (one worked, the other failed), have just been through loss of their partner or sheer unhappiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 [quote user="Richard"]In my experience Clair, it's the people who talk about suicide are the ones that don't do it. The ones that say nothing will be the ones that do it.[/quote]That's not my experience. Some people reach out, some don't. It would be wrong to think that because someone talks about suicide, he or she is unlikely to go through with it.As far as my comment about revenge goes, I am referring to instances which occurred near where I live. Here, a man who can't keep his wife in check is not seen a "proper" man. This outdated attitude is still pretty much the norm in older generations out in the sticks. It's the same attitude that made my elderly neighbour say she was lucky her husband did not beat her, even when he was drunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 [quote user="Clair"]It would be wrong to think that because someone talks about suicide, he or she is unlikely to go through with it.[/quote]Quite so. I feel those are the ones who actually want help. Their cry for suicide is actually a cry for help. But if that cry isn't heard or acted upon, then of course suicide may follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just john Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Surely in this instance it is an extreme thing to do and despite Marie Antoinette, ''qu'ils mangent de la brioche'' they cannot have their cake and eat it, it is either a state subsidised enterprise or it attempts to get into the real world through efficient management, it does seem as though it has not been handled as well as it might though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I also think the unions have a lot to answer for.Instead of preparing their members for the inevitable change and offering confidence-building advice about job appraisals and reviews, they talk up fears of redundancies and moves.After years of clocking in, doing the minimum and the occasional opportunity of being unpleasant to their customers, FT employees suddenly have to earn their salary and pay increases. It must be a shock to the system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 [quote user="Clair"]After years of clocking in, doing the minimum and the occasional opportunity of being unpleasant to their customers, FT employees suddenly have to earn their salary and pay increases. It must be a shock to the system![/quote]Laughed my head off at this, Clair. Only one qualification, if I may, "the copious and frequent opportunity of being unpleasant to their customers".......yes, I think that describes it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 You know more than I do about that! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just john Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Are you suggesting an air of arrogance developed in French Government organisations, where funtionaries positions until now have been sacrosanct[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 [quote user="Clair"]You know more than I do about that! [:D][/quote]Malhereusement, oui![:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 A very clear and balanced account of this in today's Independent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 So there are job opportunities at FT now then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 [quote user="Richard"]So there are job opportunities at FT now then?[/quote]Ouch![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Why doesn't the Independent now write an article about call-centres in Bangalore and Mumbai and compare suicide rates with FT?If France, as a nation, wants to compete in the "real world", then it has to adopt practices which have been in place in many countries for years.The shock of the new and the unknown...............yes, but it's a jungle out there, don't they know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 The shock of the new and the unknown...............yes, but it's a jungle out there, don't they know?From my experience of the local populace, educated (the rare few) or otherwise I would say no, they have no perception of the world outside their bubble, cosy or otherwise.For the workers of FT I think that they have all had a rapid, and in my view necessary, formation about the real world over the last few years with all managers being forced to up sticks and move to another post often in another region every 3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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