News

Following many months of turmoil regarding staff well-being and morale, France Telecom has decided to replace CEO Didier Lombard with Stephane Richard. Mr. Lombard will remain as Chairman.



These plans will be put to the company's board on 24 February and will take effect from 1 March, if accepted.



Thirty-four France Telecom employees have committed suicide since January 2008.



Unions say that many of these suicides, and a general feeling of low morale in the company, have been caused by stress, due to reorganization of the company in recent years and increasing competition in the telecom sector. News reports regarding the prevalence of suicides at the company have given rise to broader discussions about low morale, stress and well-being in French workplaces.



France Telecom was run as a public service until 1997 and remains about 27% owned by the state. As many staff are still classified as civil servants and therefore subject to high levels of job protection, the company has employed management strategies to encourage people to leave their employment, such as forcing relocations and allocation of meaningless work. One of the company's responses to its morale crisis during 2009 was to restrict employee relocations and suspended some aspects of the corporate restructuring plan.



If proposed changes are accepted, Lombard will direct the group’s strategic and technological matters while Richard will take over management of the group’s operations.