“Sharing value” in business: Parliament adopts the law on profit-sharing and participation

This text, widely supported by 158 votes to 36 in the National Assembly, is the transposition of an agreement between unions and employers to extend company profit sharing schemes to a greater number of employees.

This law is a “double satisfaction for social dialogue and parliamentary democracy”, rejoiced the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt.

“It is a gain in purchasing power” through “work” in a logic of “solidarity of destiny between the company and the employee”, he underlined in the hemicycle.

The Insoumis defended in vain a motion to reject the text. Aurélie Trouvé (LFI) criticized these “bonuses”, “an additional means of pressure for the bosses and much less money for the social protection funds”, since they are “exempt from contributions”.

“You are ignoring social dialogue,” replied LR Stéphane Viry, referring the Insoumis to “Marxist economics”.

The left has divided. LFI and communists spoke out against the law, ecologists opted for abstention and the PS voted in favor despite its "bitterness" in the face of a text "padlocked" by the government which "immediately excluded the question of salaries" .

All other groups supported the law.

Concluded in February 2023 in a context of high inflation, the national inter-professional agreement (ANI), sealed without the CGT, aims to extend mechanisms such as profit-sharing, participation or value sharing bonuses ( PPV) to all companies with more than 11 employees.

Small businesses lagging behind

A profit redistribution mechanism, participation is currently compulsory in companies with more than 50 employees, while profit-sharing is an optional bonus linked to results or non-financial performance, systems which are accompanied by tax advantages.

Smaller companies are still lagging behind: 88,5% of employees in companies with more than 1.000 people benefited from a “value sharing” system in 2020, compared to less than 20% in those with fewer than 50 people. employees, according to the Statistical Directorate of the Ministry of Labor (Dares).

In committee, deputies and senators were divided on the start date of the profit-sharing or participation experiment for companies with 11 to 49 employees, ultimately set at 2025, in accordance with the provisions of the ANI. MEPs would have preferred implementation brought forward to 2024.

“ANI was very clear on this,” underlined Frédérique Puissat (LR), rapporteur of the text in the Senate. “I find this a shame because the employers' organizations were not opposed” to the advancement of the timetable, explained the rapporteur designated to the Assembly Louis Margueritte (Renaissance).

On the other hand, the deputies obtained the reinstatement of a measure aimed at recalculating the amount of the participation in the event of tax evasion by a company, as well as a clarification in the criteria of "exceptional profits", a subject which had heated up the minds in the Assembly.

On average, companies paid 1.681 euros per employee in 2023 for value sharing (profit-sharing and participation), an increase of 3,7% compared to 2022, the asset manager told AFP. Amundi, which says it manages the retirement and employee savings of more than three million employees in France, out of the nearly twelve million who hold them.

The number of beneficiary employees increased by 3,5%.