Thousands of workers will not see their company profits translate into real wage increases.
The results are “exceptional”, the expectations “legitimate” and the conclusion ultimately very disappointing. Around 500,000 employees thought they would see a nice salary increase in 2024, but this will not be the case. Or almost. The end of the year is synonymous with salary negotiations in companies. To ask for a raise, it’s better to have numbers in your favor.
But that’s not all! Bank employees learned this the hard way in their last days. The trade union organizations held discussions with the management of each major French banking establishment. But after weeks of exchanges, between requests and counter-proposals, the salary increase agreements are very far from expectations.
However, the banks have made a lot of money since the start of 2023. Société Générale earned 518 million euros in profits between January and September, more than 1 billion for Banque Populaire, almost as much for BNP , and the net result even shows 1.8 billion in just six months for Crédit Mutuel.
Despite these colossal gains, employees of these banks should not expect to roll in gold next year, when the median salary is €2,284 net per month. At Société Générale, the salary increase will only be 1 to 2.5%; between 0.5 and 2.5% at the Banque Populaire and from 0.8 to 1.15% at BNP. On the Crédit Mutuel side, a general increase of 2.2% was announced to which individual increases will be added.
To compensate for these increases below demands (some asked for 6%), these banks activated the lever of the value sharing premium (PPV), better known as the Macron bonus. Crédit Mutuel was the most generous by granting €3,000 to its employees. Société Générale will pay €1,200, compared to €1,000 for BNP and a minimum of €500 for Banque Populaire.
While the banks do not yet have their final results for 2023 and they have already announced an increase in their rates in 2024 (not counting the relaxation of credit granting rules), there is no doubt that the profits will still be colossal in the months to come. But with a (very) minimal impact on employees’ pay slips.