Employee savings: employees and firms are genuinely satisfied, but there is still a great need for support and education

The new edition of Employee Savings Week will take place from 24 to 28 March. This event, initiated jointly by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the Direction générale du Trésor, the Direction générale du Travail, the Association Française de la Gestion financière (AFG) and La finance pour tous, mobilises the entire financial community with a common objective: to enable employees and firms alike to gain better knowledge and understanding of the operation and benefits of these value-sharing schemes, which are certainly popular but still sometimes poorly understood.

New OpinionWay study: employee savings, between strengths and challenges

Following on from the first two studies in 2020 and 2023, a brand-new study assesses how employees perceive employee savings schemes. For the first time this year, as part of the five-year experiment implemented by the French Value Sharing Act (loi Partage de la valeur) of 29 November 2023, heads of firms with between 11 and 49 employees were surveyed. By the end of 2025, they will be required to set up at least one profit-based value-sharing scheme, whether through profit-sharing, an incentive scheme, matching contributions to an employee savings plan or a value-sharing bonus.

Click on the links below to access the full study and the infographic.

Positive momentum in small firms[1] with more beneficiaries
45% of employees hold at least one employee savings scheme
Positive feedback from 77% of employees and 86% of firm heads
A high level of awareness: almost 8 out of 10 employees are familiar with employee savings schemes

But
A perception that is still sometimes negative: the systems are considered complex, which slows down their adoption and reinforces the need for support.
Commitment has sometimes waned: some savers have abandoned voluntary contributions because of financial constraints or because they have switched to other investments.
Persistent obstacles for firm heads: lack of knowledge, economic caution and perceived complexity still prevent many firm heads from taking the plunge.
A lack of information: only 65% of firm heads without a scheme are aware of the new obligation, compared with 90% of those who have already introduced one.

[1] 11 to 49 employees

Information and education are essential

Support for employees and firms is a key element in understanding and implementing these schemes - in addition to public incentives: providing practical, factual and objective information is essential to removing obstacles and ensuring effective implementation.

It was with this in mind that Employee Savings Week was conceived, and once again this year it will be a key opportunity for all stakeholders to find out more about these schemes, which offer both individual and collective benefits: by offering employees a savings facility on favourable terms, employee savings can be used to finance life plans as well as being a motivating and attractive lever for the firm.

Practical points of reference:

the educational reference website www.epargnesalariale-france.fr

Employers, employees, the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) elected representatives and accountants will have access to a wealth of content: setting up and managing the schemes on a day-to-day basis, characteristics of employee share ownership, how to invest employee savings, preparing for retirement, etc;

a rich agenda of events throughout the week

A conference on "Employee savings and value sharing: what role for CSEs", hosted by the AMF and the AFG, on Tuesday 25 March at the Salon CSE in Paris, as well as numerous other events organised by the various partners, which can be found on the website.

Established in 2017, the Semaine de l’épargne salariale (The Employee Savings Week) is an initiative of the Paris financial centre, supported by about thirty market participants. Its aim is to help employees' and companies' know better this form of personal savings, what it can offer and how it works, through objective, educational and practical information. The Semaine de l’épargne salariale is part of the national financial education strategy adopted by France since 2016, as recommended by the OECD.

About the AMF
The AMF is an independent public authority responsible for ensuring that savings invested in financial products are protected and that investors are provided with adequate information. The AMF also supervises the orderly operations of markets.Visit our website https://www.amf-france.org/en