Employee savings, previously reserved for companies with 50 or more employees, will soon be accessible to SMEs. So, many bonuses and benefits await these employees.
It is useful to remember that employee savings is a system that involves paying bonuses to employees that they can use or keep in an employee savings plan. This represents a share of the company’s profits, either as a partnership, or in relation to the company’s performance, or profit-sharing.
There are three types of employee savings plans, including the Company Savings Plan (PEE), which allows you to build real estate assets. Initially, this cannot be unlocked for a period of five years. However, from December 31, 2022, an exceptional release is possible.
Another savings scheme of the company is the Collective Retirement Savings Scheme (Perco) open to employees, provided they have worked in the company for at least three months. However, from October 2020, it is no longer possible for companies to offer this plan. It was replaced by the Collective Company Retirement Savings Scheme (PER).
This year, SME employees received good news: from 2025, employee savings will be mandatory in companies with 11 to 49 employees. The decision will be tested for a period of five years before it comes into effect. According to statistics reported by our colleagues from FigaroThis reform will benefit more than 1.5 million employees.
A growing number of SMEs are adopting employee savings
Employee retention represents an asset for every company, as it allows retention of talent and potential for new ones.. “In worker circles, these bonuses, for example, could be conditional on compliance with safety protocols, and had the effect of reducing the number of workplace accidents in companies that implemented them. “, Underlines the savings sales director at Malkoff Humanis, Francois Dilleman.
This bonus can also be released for specific occasions like marriage, birth, purchase of house etc., at the request of the employee. Although employee savings are not mandatory at the SME level, many of these companies set up these schemes to help their employees.
However, if companies with more than 1,000 employees offer up to 88% of employee savings plans, this percentage reaches only 20% among companies with less than 50 employees, according to the Ministry of Labour. To increase this figure, public authorities have implemented numerous maneuvers. For example, since 2019, these companies have been exempted from the social package on savings products. As a result, setting up employee savings for SMEs is free.
