A recent story at The Time Online entitled Disney Resort Hit by Staff Suicides raises a few questions about working conditions at Europe’s most popular tourist destination, but gives no concrete answers. At issue are three suicides in the past three months by EuroDisney employees.

One of the victims had stated he wanted to quit his job “because of having to work more and more with less and less means,” and he killed himself just before returning to work after taking some sick leave and a vacation. However, no direct evidence about the reason for his suicide was cited in the article.

That said, the conjecture is pretty strong, sending a strong reminder to employers that people are not machines.

One commenter on the story (going by the name Tony Moran) said “I have just resigned from my job at a top FTSE100 company here in the U.K for exactly the same reasons. Tracker in the vehicle, unrealistic targets, bullying managers, extended working hours until 7.30pm or even 9pm due to ‘customer demand’. But managers cannot provide any hard evidence of this customer demand when asked, and all for no extra pay of course!”

According to the story, Guy-Bruno Mboe is a leader of a Disneyland union, and he blames the recent suicides on “brutal” working conditions, saying “It’s all about profit, profit, profit.” Disney officials counter that, saying Mboe is just trying to exploit the tragedies.

What it means to us

In this down economy, people are terrified about losing their jobs, and employers know it. Although it may be legal, it’s certainly unethical and immoral to push people beyond reasonable limits for the sake of profits.

I’m not saying Disney is doing this. What I am saying is that if companies remain aware of the power of reputation, they will treat their employees as human beings. I haven’t seen any CEO tombstones engraved with the phrase, “He kept his company profitable at all costs.”

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Filed in Business, Management, Workplace, Corporate Culture