"Loan of labor". The term is not very pretty and dates a bit. But the coronavirus crisis has brought it up to date. And its version 2.0 is even in the process of being emulated.
What is it about? To cope with the drop in activity of certain companies hit hard by the crisis, and at the same time respond to over-activity in other sectors, companies have been calling for the loan of employees for a few weeks. It allows the person concerned to complete a part-time imposed by the circumstances. He can also work full time for a limited time in a company that urgently needs staff. While being sure to find his first job later.
The process, as an alternative to dismissal, turns out to be a win-win situation. It saves companies hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis, with permanently failing cash. They thus find room for maneuver by reducing their payroll for several months.
The beneficiary companies, which are fortunate to remain active or even show full growth, are delighted to find quickly qualified personnel to meet demand.
Simplified procedures for employers and employees
To facilitate this process, the Ministry of Labor has just published simplified models of agreements and amendments to the employment contract for employers and employees wishing to use it.
"In the unprecedented health crisis in our country, while companies are experiencing a sharp drop in activity, others must be able to be maintained without interruption in order to allow French people to obtain supplies and protect their health Justifies the ministry. "Let's be frank, this system does not create jobs, but it does limit breakage in times of historic crisis," analyzes Yves Laqueille, who represents metallurgy manufacturers in Ile-de-France (GIM).
" It is already a lot ! Look around us in Europe, where many companies, big and small, are firing in a panic and in a hurry. We must develop all the alternatives to dry layoffs ”.
“It pays me” newsletter
The newsletter that improves your purchasing powerI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
GIM is also a pioneer in this area. “We are already organizing visits with industrialists looking for workers in companies that want to lend some of their employees. We are also creating these days a new Internet site which replaces the current one, to allow to manage day by day the supply and the demand. This platform will be transformed into a mobility job site with the loan of employees ”.
Solidarity and creativity of business leaders
The Breton agrifood industries (70,000 employees) are also at the forefront. Created by the Agil-Agro collective with the help of Pôle emploi, a pioneering system of professional mobility, based on the loan of labor, is starting to bear fruit. Agriculture, with its peaks of temporary activity, is demanding, even when the use of foreign seasonal workers is blocked by the health crisis.
Based in South Finistère, the Jean Henaff group was the first to use this method recently, in order to compensate for absenteeism linked to the coronavirus in its production workshops.
Two other companies in the system, Chocolaterie Robinet and GlobExplore, specializing in algae-based food products, responded to this call and proposed to their employees, forced into partial unemployment since the start of the crisis, to go work at Jean Henaff, the time of confinement. "In Angers, where I worked in the past, the employers' association of horticulturalists in the region is already doing this successfully," says Yves Laqueille.
Other Breton agrifood companies will soon and quickly use this "loan" system. For Yves Laqueille, "business leaders will have to show solidarity and creativity during this war economy with one objective: to pool their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses".
Strict supervision of the procedure
Please note, however, that the procedures have been made easier, but the loan of employees still falls within a very strict framework.
It can only be done free of charge, in no case can it prove to be for profit. The beneficiary company is only billed for salaries, social security charges and professional expenses. It requires the prior agreement of the employee as well as the establishment of a provision agreement.
If the Macron ordinances have made it possible to widen the field of application of the device, the period of loan of labor cannot be indefinite, it must be fixed for a fixed duration.
The “loaned” employee is in no case employed by the company receiving the labor loan. It remains in the workforce of the original one. His employment contract is not interrupted and he continues to benefit from all the contractual advantages which he previously had.
Once the loan period has elapsed, the employee returns to his original position (or an equivalent) and neither his remuneration or his career development should be modified.