Did smartphones spark France Telecom suicides?

People are killing themselves “in the age of the BlackBerry,” Canada’s ubiquitous handheld, originally introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager but now the principal source of communication for millions of people around the world A mind-boggling string of suicides at France Telecom is being blamed on a, “barrage of emails from smartphones and personal computers” which are “stressing out employees,” says The Age , attributing the Blackberry comment to France Telecom CFO Gervais Pellissier. “France Telecom, which operates under the Orange brand, has come under public scrutiny after 22 workers committed suicide and another 13 attempted to kill themselves since the start of last year,” says the story, noting CEO Didier Lombard said the company was, “adding surveillance and counselling services as the pace of suicides among employees had picked up”. The company argues the number is no higher than the national average, but trades unions are demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the deaths, “which they blame on stress linked to massive restructuring at the company, involving forced transfers and the introduction of new profit targets,” says the story, continuing »»» Pellissier said some employees were clearly feeling a lot of pressure due to the privatisation of France Telecom, but he added that this was compounded by new technologies that cause work to encroach increasingly on personal lives.

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