What do you do when your employees start killing themselves over work-related issues? France Telecom is the latest company that has had to deal with a number of recent suicides at work: people throwing themselves out the office window, overdosing on barbituates and stabbing themselves during meetings, all because of unhappy job situations.
One of the things we could blame is the lack of work-life balance. I've talked about this before: too many people are expected to be tied to their Blackberry devices 24/7. Even France Telecom's CFO said email and smartphones can put undue pressure on employees. And in an age of globalization and restructuring, where people who rely on their workplace for their social networks are being let go or moved around, it's no surprise people are getting depressed when those ties are severed.
It's also sad that we've allowed our jobs to take center-stage in our lives. Of course, you have to make a living, and it's important to like what you do. It's even OK to enjoy the ladder-climb. But your career isn't everything. We need to remember to foster relationships with our family and friends, because they are the ones who will pull us through when work fails us.