Editing Orange Group (section)

=== Staff suicides ===
{{See also|Orange S.A. suicides}}
Between January 2008 and April 2011, more than 60 France Télécom employees died by suicide,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/selbstmordserie-france-telecom-mitarbeiter-verbrennt-sich-selbst-a-759124.html|newspaper=Der Spiegel|title=Selbstmordserie: France Telecom Mitarbeiter verbrennt sich|date=27 April 2011}}</ref> some leaving notes blaming stress and misery at work. In October 2009, the wave of suicides led then Deputy CEO Louis-Pierre Wenes to resign under trade union pressure, to be replaced by Stéphane Richard.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/france-telecom-idUSL711729320091007?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11604|work=Reuters|title=France Telecom talks with unions on suicide spate|date=7 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/09/france-telecom-staff-suicides-phone|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|title=Wave of staff suicides at France Telecom|first=Angelique|last=Chrisafis|date=9 September 2009|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> Faced with multiple suicides of employees, the company promoted Stéphane Richard to the chief executive officer on 1 February 2010, while Didier Lombard remained as chairman.<ref>{{cite web|last=Campbell|first=Matthew|url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-01/france-telecom-names-richard-ceo-lombard-to-remain-chairman.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205091539/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-01/france-telecom-names-richard-ceo-lombard-to-remain-chairman.html|title=France Telecom Names Richard CEO; Lombard to Remain Chairman|publisher=Business Week|archive-date=5 February 2010|date=1 February 2010|access-date=11 August 2013}}</ref>

The suicide rate among France Télécom's 102,000 domestic employees was 15.3 per year in that year, compared with an average of 14.7 suicides per 100,000 in the overall French population.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/mental_health/article6844809.ece|title=Why are France Télécom employees committing suicide?|last=Sage|first=Adam|date=23 September 2009|newspaper=The Times|location=UK|access-date=6 October 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Following an investigation, the [[Inspection du travail]] (Labour Inspection) told the [[trade union|labour union]] [[Sud-PTT]] that the work organisation at France Télécom "was conducive to generating suffering at work" and "health risks" for employees.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-12-10 |title=France Télécom: la souffrance au travail est établie |url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/social/20091210.OBS0287/france-telecom-la-souffrance-au-travail-est-etablie.html |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=[[L'Obs|Le Nouvelle Observateur]] |language=fr}}</ref> An investigation was conducted by the [[audit]] firm Technologia at the request of France Télécom's management. Of the 102,843 employees in the group's parent company, 80,080 responded, i.e. a response rate of 77.9%. The fact-finding report revealed a "very poor general feeling", "strained physical and mental health", and a "tense and even violent working environment" for some categories of personnel. Working conditions were deemed difficult, mainly for personnel in charge of sales and customer interventions. Given heavy media coverage, these findings were the source of major contention about working conditions.

On 20 December 2019, former CEO [[Didier Lombard]] and Orange were found guilty of moral harassment towards their employees.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/french-telco-orange-found-guilty-workers-suicides-landmark-ruling-1.5404882|title=Orange Found Guilty|date=20 December 2019|website=cbc.ca/news}}</ref>