Waters Sarah, Karanikolos Marina, McKee Martin
School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, UK and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
J Public Ment Health. 2016;15(4):229-234. doi: 10.1108/JPMH-06-2016-0026. Epub 2016 Dec 19.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has experienced what the media describes as a "suicide epidemic" in the workplace, with rising numbers of employees choosing to kill themselves in the face of extreme pressures at work.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper uses a comparative approach drawing on insights from the French context, in which workplace suicide is legally and officially recognised, to shed critical light on the UK context where workplace suicide remains a hidden phenomenon.
Whilst in France, workplace suicide is treated as an urgent public health phenomenon and data on suicides are collected centrally, in the UK, despite a deterioration in working conditions, suicide is not recognised in legislation and data are not collected centrally. Unless society recognises and document rising workplace suicides, we will be unable to deal with their profound human consequences for suicidal individuals, their families and society more widely.
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Research on workplace suicides in the UK and many other national contexts is hampered by fragmentary statistical data on this phenomenon.
The paper calls for greater recognition, analysis and monitoring of workplace suicide in the UK. Suicide should be included in the list of workplace accidents that are reported to the authorities for further investigation. In a context where workplace conditions are deteriorating, society need to recognises the profound human costs of these conditions for the individual employee.
The paper has important implications for the contemporary workplace in terms of the contractual relationship between employer and employee.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Workplace suicide is an urgent, yet under-researched phenomenon. The paper brings a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective to bear on this phenomenon.
本文旨在借鉴法国和英国的比较见解，审视日益凸显的职场自杀这一公共卫生现象。法国经历了媒体所称的职场“自杀潮”，面对工作中的极端压力，选择自杀的员工数量不断增加。
设计/方法/途径：本文采用比较方法，借鉴法国的见解，在法国，职场自杀在法律上和官方层面得到认可，以此来批判性地审视英国的情况，在英国，职场自杀仍是一个隐藏的现象。
在法国，职场自杀被视为一个紧迫的公共卫生现象，自杀数据集中收集；而在英国，尽管工作条件恶化，但自杀在立法中未得到认可，数据也未集中收集。除非社会认识到并记录职场自杀事件的增加，否则我们将无法应对其对自杀者本人、其家人以及更广泛社会造成的深远人道后果。
研究局限/影响：英国及许多其他国家背景下关于职场自杀的研究受到该现象统计数据零散的阻碍。
本文呼吁英国对职场自杀给予更多的认识、分析和监测。自杀应被纳入向当局报告以供进一步调查的职场事故清单。在工作条件不断恶化的背景下，社会需要认识到这些条件给员工个人带来的巨大人力成本。
本文在雇主与雇员的合同关系方面对当代职场具有重要意义。
原创性/价值：职场自杀是一个紧迫但研究不足的现象。本文为这一现象带来了比较和多学科的视角。
