Margaux Fodere, edited by Romain Rouillard 06:28, July 11, 2022

In the bill presented Thursday, July 7, the government perpetuates and triples the exceptional bonus for purchasing power.

It allows the employer to pay a tax-free bonus to those who earn less than three times the minimum wage.

A device that divides the business world.

Pay a tax-free bonus to all those who earn less than three times the minimum wage.

An attractive device on paper, but which sows division in the business world.

In the bill presented last Thursday, the government perpetuates and triples the PEPA bonus, the exceptional bonus for purchasing power.

It is the employers who will pay it and not the State, but everything will depend on the size of the company.

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On the side of SMEs, we say we are very favorable to this system which is extremely easy to set up, as long as they have the means.

This tax exemption is particularly appealing.

According to François Asselin, the president of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, this bonus is all the more addressed to them as the majority of employees of SMEs earn less than 3 times the minimum wage.

"The median salary in France is well below three times the minimum wage, so it will affect a lot of employees, more than 4 million of them were able to benefit from it last year", he notes.

A problem for team cohesion? 

On the side of large groups, on the other hand, the enthusiasm is not really there.

The level of remuneration is often much higher than three SMICs.

Consequently, their leaders are very reluctant to reward only part of their teams.

For Matthieu Rosy, the general delegate of Syntec, the federation which represents 1.2 million employees in France and 90,000 companies in sectors such as digital, this could create a feeling of inequity detrimental to the company.

"This can really pose problems for a business leader who is trying his best to keep his teams together and maintain the compensation structure," he warns.

Indeed, the compensation structure could be disrupted.

This bonus would, in certain cases, allow its beneficiaries to earn more than the employees who are excluded from it.