COMPANIES need to find a way to tackle the stress put on employees caused by nonstop emails in the BlackBerry age, according to a top executive at France Telecom, which is dealing with a spate of employee suicides.
France Telecom, which operates under the Orange brand, has come under public scrutiny after 23 workers committed suicide and another 13 attempted to kill themselves since the start of 2008.
Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier admitted that some employees were clearly feeling a lot of pressure due to the privatisation of France Telecom.
But he added that that this was compounded by new technologies that cause work to encroach increasingly on personal lives.
"When you were an average employee in a big corporation 15 years ago, you had no mobile phone or no PC at home. When you were back home, work was out," he said.
Now many workers around the world have computers at home and carry BlackBerry email devices so they can send work related email after hours, he said.
Research in Motion's popular BlackBerry has been dubbed CrackBerry in the United States where some users say they are addicted to checking e-mails.
Mr Pellissier said this may be taking a bigger toll on workers than has been acknowledged by his company or others.
"Today for people working in business, whatever the level, whether they are CEO or even first or second rank level employees, they are always connected," he said.
As a result a fragile employee with difficulties would probably have more confusion with "more mixture between personal life and professional life than in the past."
"That is probably something we've not undertaken, not only at France Telecom but, it's more a global society issue, the impact of the new ways of working on personal behaviour," Mr Pellissier said.
He did not explain how the balance could be addressed but noted that his company was taking the suicides very seriously.
France Telecom Chief Executive Didier Lombard said earlier this month that it was adding surveillance and counseling services as the pace of suicides among employees had picked up. One man had stabbed himself in the stomach during a staff meeting while woman threw herself out a window.
Mr Pellissier talked about stress caused by workers changing jobs, skills and locations as France Telecom recreates itself as a private company from a government agency. More than 15,000 of its roughly 102,000 workers had big job changes in the last five years as a result of the privatisation, he said.
He said the company would have to do a lot in the coming weeks to help resolve the suicide problem.
"It's a serious issue. We have to deal with it," he said.
I wouldnt mind dying over love or stress over life...
(not to say im for suicide... i was JUST saying)
but over work??
seriously?
its not worth it...
you work so hard suffering over it
who's going to care? and for what?
then to die because of it?
my option would have to just quit that darn job...
some times it not doing what u love but loving what you do
and when all else fails, blame it on the employers! YEAH!
so boring. cant even contact him... in m'sia holidaying w his family. sigh.
anyway, i've been thinking. sometimes i wonder if i really am human. cos i seem to be so afraid of them. im scared of crowds. sometimes when i see people, if i can, i'd hide. i dont know what im supposed to say. how to act. im so black and white. so straightforward. i cant think out of the box. i have no common sense. i cant think straight. im always in trouble when i dun mean to i dunno how to get out of that trouble. im scared. neurotic with a slight touch of paranoia.
so many things to say too little time (or juz darn lazy)
lets juz fragment it... or i'll just type as it runs thru my mind see if u can catch up...
here goes:
i was like being thrown into the sea. i had no idea wat to expect like no parents no one to guide i dunno wat to do or say. what is rite or wrong i dun even know what i am. how can i be sure who's advice to accept? when all seems so contradicting? and then there's the bites. people wanna eat me. kill me. i feel like giving up.
i didnt mean to miss so much. not like i had any choice. then u came who died and made u boss? suddenly u were intimidating me pushing us ard. who the hell are you to authorize me? then theres no hope. yes. im slow. stupid.idiotic (if u want me to confess to tt level) no one wants to help. im alone. suddenly i feel like i had to do it alone to prove myself to THEM that hey.... IM NOT STUPID
i love my colleagues. gossips abound. who slp with who that who slp with how many who who fights with who its awesome...
sometimes i feel like i hold sooooo many secrets i feel like bursting maybe i have my memory to thank. coz im so forgetful.
pls dun say its lame... this is the 3rd season and i have NEVER followed a season from the start to the end.
so now, i wish to start following this bo liao trend of catching every single sg idol episodes. mad but true.
and since the 1st episode the 1 girl tt cuaght my ears (ahah) was
Fathin Amira. i think she has a beautiful voice and i love the fact that she's has this gentle character abt her....
i went to the sg idol webbie and watched her performance again(yeah... bo liao). i tell u... seriously, she's worth the time to click on that link and listen to her rendition of "if i aint got you". so if u trust my taste... go on!!!
http://idol.mediacorptv.sg/recaps.htm
since it IS a lazy rainy sunday morning, i decided to check up a few others too.. and frankly, i liked what i saw :D i really believe sg have talents... no matter how corny that sounds lol...
others that i think is great too :
Syltra Lee (loving her rock-ish "killing me softy" ) Sezairi Sezali (the man who cant be moved... rina u hafta listen to this ver :D) farhan Shah (i like the way he sang... like lullaby...dear... dun jealous ah...) Nurul Huda(i have this feeling tt i've seen her perform before... when i was with rina to catch the acoustic gig at the SAM...i really think its her!!!)
I'm just a little bit caught in the middle Life is a maze, and love is a riddle I don't know where to go Can't do it alone I've tried, but I don't know why
Slow it down, make it stop Or else my heart is going to pop Cause it's too much, yeah it's a lot To be something I'm not
I'm a fool out of love Cause I just can't get enough
I'm just a little bit caught in the middle Life is a maze, and love is a riddle I don't know where to go Can't do it alone I've tried, but I don't know why
I'm just a little girl lost in the moment I'm so scared but I don't show it I can't figure it out It's bringing me down I know, I've got to let it go
And just enjoy the show
The sun is hot in the sky Just like a giant spotlight The people follow the signs And syncronize in time
It's a joke, nobody knows They got a ticket to the show Yeah
I'm just a little bit caught in the middle Life is a maze, and love is a riddle I don't know where to go Can't do it alone I've tried, and I don't know why
I'm just a little girl lost in the moment I'm so scared but I don't show it I can't figure it out It's bringing me down I know, I've got to let it go
And just enjoy the show
Just enjoy the show I'm just a little bit caught in the middle Life is a maze, and love is a riddle I don't know where to go Can't do it alone I've tried, but I don't know why
I'm just a little girl lost in the moment I'm so scared but I don't show it I can't figure it out It's bringing me down I know, I've got to let it go
And just enjoy the show
Dum De Dum, Duh Dum De Dum Just enjoy the show Duh Dum De Dum, Duh Dum De Dum Just enjoy the show
I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back
Just enjoy the show
I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back
