Comments on: Why France Telecom Suicides Never Should Have Happened

By: Karl Staib - The Work Happy Guy

Karl Staib - The Work Happy Guy — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:56:32 +0000

Hi Salvia, I agree. They put money before their employees and in the end it made the situation worse.

By: Salvia

Salvia — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:59:04 +0000

I think it says something about French Telecom that they allowed 24 employees to commit suicide without a thorough review of their employees, management practicies and mandatory mental health training and proactive assistance.

By: Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer)

Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:37:28 +0000

I know how stressful a job can be, but suicide is never the answer. You are right. We can’t blame anyone for our pain. We need to find a way to make ourselves happy. If that means quitting and going to live with a family member because we can’t make payments on our house so be it.

By: Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer)

Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:35:09 +0000

I’ve heard those same stories about Japan and China. It’s amazing how hard it is to find balance/harmony with our work. The more we work with our thoughts through meditation and relaxation the less likely this is to occur.

By: Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer)

Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:33:12 +0000

I wasn’t in their position and it may seem easy to quit to us, but not to them. With that being said we have to be hyper aware of our mental and physical health and if a job is wearing away either one we must act swiftly.

By: Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer)

Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:31:09 +0000

Work should never be our whole lives because if we lose that job or something else bad happens our world comes crashing down. By finding balance in friends, family and other passions we can be sure create a net that will catch us in tough times.

By: Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer)

Karl Staib - CZO (Chief Zen Officer) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:29:13 +0000

We do need to set a threshold. This isn’t easy because our threshold is constantly changing. We need to stay very aware of when we are going to far and take a break to replenish.

By: Walter

Walter — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:35:11 +0000

Company leaders must always consider the welfare of the employees as such is important for the well-being of the company itself.

However, an employee committing suicide because he’s not happy is another story. We are creating our own turmoils, if we allow such inner turmoils to control our lives then it will eat us alive.

Perhaps the employee was not happy with himself, blamed the management for this and ended his life to escape from misery.

By: Evita

Evita — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:21:20 +0000

Hi Karl

Like Megan I don’t pay attention to the news and did not hear about it, but the idea is not foreign to me. When I used to teach, I explored with students the happiness of our population today and there were examples that we discussed of Japan and China where it was common for employees to commit suicide because they were so overworked and they saw no other way out.

It is too bad and like you said these things don’t need to happen. The more we know the better we can approach things and hopefully all people can be empowered to know that there are always other options.

By: suzen

suzen — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:27:38 +0000

Hi Karl! I hadn’t heard about this either until reading your post. It would be an ideal world if people could realize that they are NOT their job. How you get people educated in this vein would have to happen, obviously, early in life. This was indeed a tragic display of people not getting this and it is all too easy to blame the company. I’m with you, just quit, but maybe we have a better understanding of who we really are and have a healthy respect for that?