Free company coffee in hand, some are speculating on the name of the future Prime Minister and incidentally on the identity of the next occupants of the magnificent private mansions on the Rues de Varenne and Rue Grenelle transformed into official residences for the ministers who will be appointed. In the same way, employees often have small or large benefits but which they have integrated as “normal”: a time savings account, a fourteenth month, reimbursement of electricity costs, free plane travel, etc. These “pluses” are the useful invisibles. It is therefore with amazement that we note their disappearance when changing jobs or employers. “Even if most of the benefits granted within the framework of an employment relationship are subject to social security contributions and taxes, employees remain financial winners,” underlines Alexandra Dabrowiecki, lawyer at the Voltaire law firm.
“This is the classic case of the company vehicle – generally mentioned in the employment contract – which the employee can use in his private life, on weekends or for his holidays. He can also benefit from a fuel card and “an electronic toll card In general, the whole thing is evaluated by flat rate, it is advantageous”, explains the expert. Other classics: the laptop or the mobile phone. They can often be used for private purposes. There is also comfortable and ergonomic office furniture, even if this is required by the employer as part of its security obligation. “Having pleasant equipment is one of the advantages that the employee does not always think about, but which can really make the difference on a daily basis,” insists the lawyer. Also advantageous is the tolerance in the price reduction of goods or services produced by the company (when it grants price discounts to its employees on the products it sells to the public) which can go up to 30% of the price. of sale including tax. Added to this are good mutual insurance, welfare, a supplementary pension system, profit-sharing, participation or the allocation of free shares.
Alexandra Dabrowiecki also points to the CSE (in structures with more than 50 employees), which often offers social and cultural activities, with preferential pricing conditions, reduced tickets, transport costs partially covered, or even collective nursery places. “In companies with fewer than 50 employees, nothing prevents an employer from offering a gym or reimbursing part of a package to a gym.” Companies without a CSE can also give “gift vouchers”, particularly for a birth, a marriage or an event during the year “but they must not exceed 5% of the Social Security ceiling, or 196.25 euros in 2024 “.
The question of moving costs
Often forgotten, meal vouchers regain their charm when the employer does not offer them. “They are not obligatory, but many companies put them in place because they are exempt from charges on the part they pay,” specifies the specialist. “For lunch baskets or meal trays, they can be covered by the company but Urssaf is very vigilant about the impossibility for the employee to eat their meal in the normal way with a lunch break.” On the other hand, your company is required to reimburse 50% of the cost of public transport subscription tickets. “It is a legal obligation, regardless of whether the persons concerned have chosen to live far from their place of work.” What about the employee who changes region? “The employer has the obligation to pay for their move and help them settle in. If this move is made within the framework of compulsory mobility, the payment of costs is exempt from social charges.”
With regard to uniforms or clothing required in certain professions, a soiling bonus must be provided to contribute to cleaning costs, without social charges. However, the free supply of clothing items to sellers by a clothing sales company constitutes a benefit in kind subject to Social Security contributions, including in the context of their professional activity. “The coverage of hairdressing costs is also a contributory benefit, even if it is an obligation imposed by the employer,” explains Alexandra Dabrowiecki.