Figures to work with a lot of precautions

Last Tuesday, at 27, rue Médéric, Paris, France Telecom employees arrive at their Office in dignity. There is no suggestion that, last week, one of their colleagues was death. Only a few posters, where throne a phone number providing psychological support, recall that the group is in mourning, after 23 suicides in eighteen months. In the inboxes of the 102.200 employees and on the Group intranet overlap messages managers, CEO, Didier Lombard, and trade unions, where successive condolences, recommendations and calls for vigilance.

Confronted not only survived, but a breaking media, trade unions and political, France Telecom is in shock. "To suicide, our first feeling is a feeling of powerlessness, but it must go beyond very quickly, says Laurent Zylberberg, Director of the social relations." Because, now, the urgency is to avoid new tragedies, to stop the contagion.

Today, no company is immune. March 31, a Director of Barclays heritage has attempted to commit suicide in his Paris Office. Fifteen days later, an employee of Agency ended his days. For its part, Airbus has experienced four brutal disappearances in 2008. Similarly, a few years, EDF has lost four employees. Without forgetting manufacturers motor, hit, too, by a black series: between 2006 and 2007, the Technocentre in Guyancourt Renault was the scene of three suicides, including two on site. And six employees working in Mulhouse in PSA have ended their days in 2007, including two inside the company.

"The denial is never the answer."

"These bereavements affect both major groups than SMEs or public agencies," said Dr. Patrick Lègeron, head of cabinet Stimulus and co-author of a report on the work stress. And, according to scientists, the wave could intensify with the crisis: a study published by the journal "The Lancet" British in July estimated that 1 of rising unemployment is translated 0.8 increase in suicides among the less than 65 years. Figures to work with a lot of precautions. Because, you know, the mechanics of suicide is complex. "These acts are almost always multifactorial.". "Be very careful about their causes before openly designating guilty", recalled in PSA. It is no coincidence if, in France, statistics charting the evolution of professional suicide are lacking. But the CNAMTS comes to identify the digits at the national level. For 2008, the Organization posts 49 applications for recognition to the title of the workmen of deaths by suicide for the employees of private law, and 21 for the first half of 2009. Last year, more than half of the victims have made the death in their business and five missions. In France, the suicide rate is one of the highest in Europe. There are in 12,000 per year and ten times more attempts.

How to deal Certainty, the company must act. "The denial is never the answer, says Jean-Claude Delgenes, Director General of the cabinet of experts Technologia." When such events occur, the social body may freeze. Which could impair a society terribly. "The problem is that it is not the right error. However, "suicide is a human drama which is also managed by humans. "There is no miracle recipe", commented on in PSA. "No individual has the truth", said Catherine Delpirou, Director of HR at EDF policy.

Long, among employers, suicide has remained taboo. Evidenced by the manager of a multinational to head of seven commercial one is hanged in may: "No one came to me, neither trade unions nor the direction." How to imagine that someone could get this far Our management techniques do not include these things there. "The injuries persist. One of the commercial presentation the photograph of the deceased on his Office for several weeks. For his part, he developed physical signs of stress. "The le coût cost in terms of image, motivation of teams, absenteeism, quality of work, turnover and productivity may be enormous", said Monique Boutrand, National Secretary of the CFDT-frameworks.

"Debriefing" post-traumatic

However, the flexibility of an enterprise is not huge. When a tragedy occurs, it is with multiple interlocutors and must respond according to different time scales, as requires, at a time, healing the wounds to heart of collaborators and building the future.

Such "relief actions", his first reactions will remain engraved in the memory. Very quickly, it must break the silence. "The first step is to bring together all of the employees, without their superiors, so that the floor is free, the emotion to evacuate and restore meaning to the work", said Jean-Claude Delgenes. A specific "traumatic" debriefing which must join health professionals. "At the same time, the branch must communicate soberly, referring to a collective reflection, which will involve unions, occupational physicians, psychologists and leaders." And show that the disappearance has not left it marble. "Staff are waiting for a message because, believe the experts, grief is also class.

But this is not enough. "The company must respond before that people don't have the time to rebuild their own history." "Otherwise, they are likely to find a scapegoat to alleviate guilt that inevitably generate these events," said Bénédicte Haubold, founder of the Artélie Board, specializing in crisis management. "Where assuming a connection with the work, the employer must also trigger flash audit, by meeting immediate collaborators, colleagues outside the service, family and all the documents relating to that person, of annual interviews to e-mails addressed, through his CV, its curriculum, its bulletins of pay... to understand the risks that threaten other collaborators and reframe the debate beyond the emotional".continued.

Because collective links where suicides were returned to a deep loneliness. Immediately after the events of 2007, SAP has implemented a green number, where external psychologists listen to professional or personal problems. Idem in EDF and since a few days at France Telecom. For its part, Renault chose to fund up to six sessions per employee in a psychologist outside the company. Since employers must join the Act to the floor, provoking the disengagement of teams in disarray. Affected groups launched a patchwork of initiatives, cells of Eve to the mailbox to report violence. Measures plus HRD to proximity, more doctors of labour or the training of managers for the detection of psychosocial risks.

External investigation

However, as explained by EDF, which was created in 2007 a national observatory for the quality of work life, "our measures are part of the period and focus on psychosocial risks all." "We have looked on the way people live their lives at work," says Catherine Delpirou. Tomorrow, France Telecom starts a negotiation on the stress in the company. Because actions must also be decline long term at a time when physicians refer to suicide as the ultimate culmination of other ailments. "The only non-negotiable element is the performance." "But this should not prevent the undertaking to deal with the substance of the problem by developing a management by listening and recognition," explains Gilles Verrier, Director General of the identity HR Office.

First to wipe a médiatique storm, Renault is called into question for several months. The constructor, as PSA, was started by sponsoring an external investigation to understand, identify stress factors and act in time. "It is a prerequisite, said Pierre Nicolas, official CGT the Technocentre of Renault. The human dimension is complex. "And a company has disparate elements but is not armed to make the link between its policy, ethical choices, strategic decisions and its employees on a daily basis."

These measures have a cost. Over two years, Renault had a budget of EUR 10 million. The investigation triggered a deep reorganization of work, including in the Office for studies: additional staff, new distribution of tasks, schedules change, people dedicated to the evaluation of the workload. "And then there were fundamental changes in corporate culture." Since March 2008, there was more suicides in the marketplace. In the beginning, it was iron with management arm, remembers the trade unionist. But she realized that acting was doubly useful, risks are reduced and increased economic efficiency of the company.