Government names 'stressful' firms
Survey of 1,700 large firms reveals those tackling the issue of stress and those that appear to have no clear policy
STARBUCKS, BP, Glaxo SmithKline and Toys R Us are among the companies accused of failing to deal with employee stress in a new government report.
The Work Ministry has published a list on its website naming some of France's biggest firms that it says failed to reply to a questionnaire on its stress policy - and another list praising firms that have taken action.
Late last year the government contacted 1,700 companies in France employing more than 1,000 staff and asked for details of their policies on tackling stress and work-related illness, following a series of suicides at France Telecom.
More than half of the firms that replied said they had held meetings with staff and unions to discuss stress. Companies praised for their work included Aéroports de Paris, Fnac and Coca-Cola.
The firms that failed to reply were automatically placed in the "red" list, alongside others who returned the questionnaire and were considered to not be doing enough. The list features 397 companies including BP, Starbucks, Glaxo SmithKline (GSK), Toys R Us, Motorola and Numericable.
GSK said it had been dealing with stress for a long time but reaching a firm conclusion would take a while. Frozen food retailer Picard, which also featured on the red list, said it was "perfectly aware of the issues relating to stress at work and considers it something that needs to dealt with seriously".
The Work Ministry says it will regularly update the list to take into account firms that have improved - or worsened.
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