Employment, energy: back to school under pressure for French companies

The Medef organizes every end of August at the Longchamp racecourse the Meeting of French Entrepreneurs.

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The Prime Minister will speak this Monday afternoon at the Medef summer school.

An expected speech on the famous “ 

energy sobriety

 ” requested by Emmanuel Macron, but also on the eco-social perspectives.

The head of government should put pressure on companies, which are also struggling to find their workforce.

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The threat is clear and distinct.

In her back-to-school interview in

Le Parisien

this Sunday, Elisabeth Borne warned companies that profit from inflation:

a tax on super profits is not excluded

.

Unless they first make an effort to lower prices and create jobs.

In Metz on Saturday during a meeting of the executives of En Marche, the Prime Minister had warned the bosses: “

uncertainty will be our daily life, crises without doubts regular, and yet we will have to move forward.

Our country has the strength to withstand its storms.

Everyone will have to do their part.

Companies in particular will have to take their responsibilities and make jobs more attractive and working conditions better.

 »

Increase wages

Because the observation is general: companies lack arms.

This concerns jobs in the hotel industry, construction or personal assistance, but also senior management jobs.

Bosses must also deal with an increase in resignations: nearly half a million French people left their jobs in the first half of 2022, a record since the 2008 crisis. Employees are less and less reluctant to change jobs, even when they are on CDI. 

This Monday the Medef, the main French employers' organization, is back with the Meeting of Entrepreneurs of France (REF).

Two days of debate at the Parisian Longchamp racecourse during which two central questions will be examined: that of inflation and that of the difficulty of recruiting in a tight labor market.

What solutions should be put in place to attract or retain employees?

Will the return to school be placed under the sign of general salary increases?

To overcome the difficulties of hiring, the consulting firm WTW recommends that companies be more flexible on telework, to offer flexible hours.

Faced with inflation, he also advises bosses to increase wages, a measure that 96% of French companies have already implemented according to the firm, with an increase of 3.1% on average.

With inflation already at 6% in July, wage increases are expected to continue. 

A year ago, companies were bathed in the euphoria of a vigorous recovery in the French economy.

The start of the 2022 school year promises to be much less optimistic for them.

Sobriety: "Companies obviously have a role to play", says Roux de Bézieux

But it is on “ 

energy sobriety

 ”, requested by the President of the Republic, that Elizabeth Borne is eagerly awaited.

It must call on companies and individuals to “ 

general mobilization

 ” in terms of energy sobriety.

A first assessment of the actions taken by companies to reduce energy consumption could be made at the end of September or in October, according to Matignon.

If the Prime Minister declared in the interview with

Le Parisien

 that we are not “ 

going to control the French at home 

” concerning the energy savings requested, she adds that “

 concerning companies there will be common sense constraints

 ”.

Two decrees are being examined by the Council of State on the extinction of illuminated advertisements at night and the closing of doors for air-conditioned businesses.

More restrictive measures could be triggered if the sobriety target of 10% energy savings is not met and Russia completely cuts gas supplies.

“ 

Companies obviously have a role to play

 ”, assures the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux in an interview with

Le Figaro

published on Monday.

"

 The sobriety plan on which we are discussing mainly concerns two subjects: the temperature in the offices (...) and daily mobility, by pushing alternative transport solutions to the individual car

 ", he explains.

We will also have to rethink our production model more generally to make it more sober

 ", warns the president of Medef.

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