The spate of suicides that has rocked France Telecom since the summer has left its managers with a difficult challenge: how to make the former monopoly a better place to work for its 100,000 staff while protecting its long-term performance in an increasingly competitive market.

The suicides of 24 employees in France since the start of 2008 – some of them in the workplace, some attributed directly to harsh management practices and constant reorganisation – have left the company scrambling to overhaul its human resources policy.