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"Reducing the workforce was a priority, new management techniques were introduced, and the method was to degrade working conditions in order to psychologically

"Reducing the workforce was a priority, new management techniques were introduced, and the method was to degrade working conditions in order to psychologically push some of the employees to leave voluntarily" 39 cases of attempted suicides, 19 deaths and 10 years later the CEO, Didier Lombard who previously stated that he "wants employees leave by the door or window" got a four-month jail term and had to pay €15,000. He failed to show remorse during the trial. He continues to be the chairman of the Supervisory Board of ST Microelectronics, and sit on the boards of a bunch of other companies.

JPLeRouzic 4y ago
I was one employee of Orange at that time and was specifically asked to leave the company (I didn't), Lombard was a very fat guy who couldn't stand for a long time, he was used to make crude jokes about young (female) engineers, he was paid ~12M/year but often complained it was not enough. Clearly I was not impressed by his intelligence with respect to previous managers like Michel Bon or Jean-Jacques Damlamian. But I think things must be seen in context: - It is not very different to what happens in other big companies, see recent statements by Google's and Meta's CEOs. - The demography is important, we employees were mostly recruited in the 1980' in the Direction Générale des Télécoms, at that time one third of DGT's employees changed of job because of introduction of computers and automation (42C, etc). There were no social problem at all (none of the famous French strikes) even if new jobs were much more demanding (sale people) In 2005, we employees, were ~50 years old. We were married, divorced, our parents were getting old, grand parents were dying and our children were in their late teens, most of them without jobs. This was not an easy time and the prospect to loose our job was a serious stress.

JPLeRouzic 4y ago

I was one employee of Orange at that time and was specifically asked to leave the company (I didn't), Lombard was a very fat guy who couldn't stand for a long time, he was used to make crude jokes about young (female) engineers, he was paid ~12M/year but often complained it was not enough. Clearly I was not impressed by his intelligence with respect to previous managers like Michel Bon or Jean-Jacques Damlamian. But I think things must be seen in context: - It is not very different to what happens in other big companies, see recent statements by Google's and Meta's CEOs. - The demography is important, we employees were mostly recruited in the 1980' in the Direction Générale des Télécoms, at that time one third of DGT's employees changed of job because of introduction of computers and automation (42C, etc). There were no social problem at all (none of the famous French strikes) even if new jobs were much more demanding (sale people) In 2005, we employees, were ~50 years old. We were married, divorced, our parents were getting old, grand parents were dying and our children were in their late teens, most of them without jobs. This was not an easy time and the prospect to loose our job was a serious stress.