­Bucking a trend for cutting staffing numbers, France Telecom-Orange says that it plans to hire 4,000 additional permanent full time employees by 2015.

The company said that this commitment has been made despite the difficult economic context, in particular following the launch of a fourth operator in France, which has led to a depressed operational environment and decreased margins across the Group.

In addition, the firm outlined plans for the integration of 5,000 young people each year in France on work-study placements in order to meet their needs in terms of training and work experience

However, the company wants the unions to agree to expand its flexible working program, which around 7,000 of its 165,000 staff already are part of.