Depression: The challenge - Problem Analysis Paper

Depression Name Institution Due Date Depression The challenge The former company I worked for was AT&T. In the latter months before my departure, three employees died in what could be termed as suicide. The deaths seemed to have been given media blackout to protect the image of the company. Three employees committed suicide within a period of 4 months. The first employee shot himself in the hotel room he had been living since he moved out of his apartment. He was having a divorce and his wife had moved out earlier in the month. He was a middle-aged man who worked in the software development department for the company for seven years. He had lived in his car shortly after he was given restraining orders against going to his apartment or visiting his family until the divorce was finalized. He had also been drinking a lot such that he could not show up to work. He had received two warning letters and had been put on a performance improvement plan of the company. The performance improvement plan is the last step before an employee is fired. The second employee took week-long leave but never returned. He was working as a programmer for the company for 3 years. It was his first job since he graduated from campus four years earlier. He committed suicide on the last day of his leave before he could resume his duties at the company, he was found dead in his apartment after overdosing on a prescribed painkiller. The overdose looked intentional and the police ruled the cause of death as a suicide after a note was found in his apartment detailing how he was disappointed and had become a failure. In the suicide note, he seemed to believe that he was already a failure and he could not have achieved his goals. The third employee was an intern with the company. She was working as a software developer with the company. The internship was for six months with the hopes that it will be extended and that she be absorbed into the company and possibly use the company as a stepping stone to work for bigger tech companies. Her dreams were shattered when she realized that her internship contract could not be renewed and she could not be hired because there was no opening. The internship period had expired and she had noted that her manager was reluctant about renewing her internship contract or hire her on a full-time basis. She jumped on the railway tracks at the subway to an oncoming train when she was heading home after work. Company Description I have been working for AT&T. the company was founded in 1983 and it is a big player in the technology field. It is one of the fortune 500 companies in the country. The company pays fairly very good salaries which are above the industry average. The issue comes in the work-life balance, especially for technical and software engineers. The company also has a culture of bureaucracy. Many times the top managers continue to give press conferences and media interviews that seem to paint the picture of a very sociable place. The truth is it is nearly impossible to push your agenda and or idea to the top management. The middle management seems to be feeding the top management inaccurate information. Innovation is stifled even when an individual suggests new innovative ideas for new products that can revolut...