The salary negotiation addressed during the annual interview often revolves around the increase. But be careful not to overlook the many -sides. From bonuses to regular telecommuting, they can have a much bigger impact on your daily life than a small percentage increase. Review of 5 benefits not to be overlooked.
Salary increases are not necessarily every year, as underlined by Luc Mathieu, national secretary of the CFDT: The most common is every 2 or 3 years. Have you been missed this year? Or not at the level you expected? On the occasion of the annual interview or outside this formal framework, other benefits may be mentioned. However, Franck Chron, a partner at Deloitte, insists on the importance of negotiating sides: From the employee’s point of view, negotiating on aspects such as teleworking, transport, schedules, restaurant tickets or holidays, it is not to be neglected: the annual negotiation of remuneration allows you to plan a 1 year, while the working conditions agree on 3, 4 or 5 years…
1 – Telecommuting (excluding health crisis)
Inflation is only the tip of the iceberg, explains Franck Chron, asked about the increases to claim in the face of inflation at 2.8%. This specialist in human resources consulting believes that the Covid-19 health crisis has caused other upheavals: Restructuring, use of digital technology, choice between employees and service providers, etc. Among these upheavals, the share of telework. Constrained for many employees during confinement or other periods of restrictions, teleworking has nevertheless become anchored in a host of professions. Hence this question posed by Franck Chron: Beyond the number [de l’augmentation annuelle], what more do we bring so that people have a better life? The organization of work is long gone by the wayside. This is no longer the case in the face of the health crisis!
More concretely, what negotiations exist on teleworking? A possible regularity, in number of days per week or per month, excluding periods of crisis, of course. But the organization of work evoked by Franck Chron also involves flexible working hours. Or by a company agreement on the payment of costs related to teleworking. Mid-November, a Law proposition of LREM MP Frédérique Lardet had a real media echo on this subject. Objective: to create a title-telwork of 600 euros maximum per year, a tax-exempt flat rate based on the meal voucher model to cover the costs of home teleworking (electricity, internet, supplies, etc.) or access to a coworking space. Will she pass? Zero suspense. Referred to the Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee, this bill will not pass before the end of the five-year term, since the parliamentary session ends at the end of February. The existence of this proposed law shows that negotiations can exist on the regular use of teleworking and on its compensation by the employer.
Telecommuting: what your employer must take care of
2 restaurant vouchers
Among the accessories to the negotiated salary, the CFDT trade unionist Luc Mathieu unsurprisingly cites variable bonuses or profit-sharing, but also meal vouchers.
Collective bargaining, of course, for this corporate advantage. The best way to prepare for a negotiation on the amount of meal vouchers is to compare: the average amount, at the national level, is 7.70 euros according to the National Restaurant Voucher Commission (CNTR). But the amount is higher in metropolitan areas and in particular Paris. Another relevant element of analysis, the upper limit of exemption from social security contributions for employers is 5.55 euros. Thus, when the employer supports 50% of the title, the maximum value of the ticket is 11.10 euros to enter this tax framework.
Restaurant voucher: what can you really pay with? (and 10 other questions)
3 Transportation allowances
In the same vein as the restaurant ticket but much less known: the title-mobility, in force since January 1, 2022. Inspired by the restaurant voucher, this new voucher is intended to take over from the bicycle mileage allowance, itself recently replaced by the sustainable mobility package. The principle is the same: support or tax-exempt compensation for the employee and the employer – covering transport costs between home and work. Provided of course that the means of transport is environmentally friendly: bicycle, electric bicycle, carpooling, electric car, public transport, etc. In addition to the flat-rate compensation that already existed, this mobility title also makes it possible to pay certain expenses such as insurance, bicycle maintenance, fuel, etc. This coverage is exempt from social charges and income tax up to 600 euros per year per employee, if combined with the partial reimbursement of a public transport subscription or self-service bicycle, specifies the Minister for Energy Transition.
If your employer has not yet converted to the mobility voucher, you can of course always negotiate a optional personal transportation support. As a reminder, the coverage of 50% of public transport is compulsory.
Transport: in 2022, pay your bills with mobility vouchers
Your projects at the best rate thanks our comparison of consumer loans
4 salary savings
Another issue that goes through collective bargaining: profit-sharing arrangements. On the one hand, participation is a compulsory mechanism, with a fixed calculation rule, in all companies with more than 50 employees. On the other hand, profit-sharing, optional, regardless of the size of the company, with an annual bonus shared between the employees when the objectives set in the agreement are achieved.
What are profit-sharing and profit-sharing, the keys to employee savings voting?
If an agreement is already in place, you can also negotiate the implementation of an employer contribution for any voluntary payment into the company savings plan (PEE) or group retirement savings plan. And if the PEE provided by the employer is disappointing, you can encourage him to demand better options from the plan manager.
Often seen as a simple bonus, employee savings should not be neglected. Casually, forced to be fed by profit-sharing and profit-sharing, it is the third largest savings family in France.
Our file. salary savings: plans without interest?
5 Variable bonuses and Macron bonus…
The salary is also the variable remuneration, underlines Luc Mathieu, national secretary of the CFDT. A lever to use when the employer is reluctant to improve the fixed salary: The bonus or the variable part is performance reward, nuance Franck Chron, to signify the particularity of the variable remuneration. Bonuses which are therefore decided at the individual level, except in the case of a collective grid for these variable bonuses.
However, bonuses can be a lever available to an employer when it is impossible to increase the fixed salary of its employees. Companies in crisis will perhaps propose a limited increase by favoring, in parallel or for compensate for the lack of increase, PEPA-type bonuses, explained in December 2021 Franck Chron, HR expert at Deloitte, with reference to the 2022 salary increases. Deloitte estimates the median amount of this PEPA bonus or Macron bonus at 600 euros. Totally tax-exempt, it can climb to 1000 euros, and even 2000 euros in companies that have implemented a profit-sharing agreement. Deadline payment of the Macron bonus 2021: the March 31, 2022. Last straight line to negotiate!
Mutual insurance, training, leave…
Annual negotiations must relate to the quantity [le salaire, NDLR], of course, but also on the qualitative, notes Franck Chron, of Deloitte, who lists the training, how to develop his activity, etc. Or leave and RTT within the overall framework of work organization. Not to mention collective bargaining to obtain the best possible company mutual insurance (even generous coverage). Luc Mathieu, of the CFDT, also cites the deferred remuneration that a supplementary pension plan can represent.
Yes, the -sides are important, recognizes Jrme Blanc, senior manager at the recruitment firm Robert Half, while recalling what he considers essential: These are still goodies which must be associated with a remuneration, fixed or variable, considered as correct. And the benefits must really correspond to the needs of the different teams.