For Anthony, it’s an unexpected gift. From January 2023, this 29-year-old product manager will be able to ask his management for a sabbatical for two consecutive months… While keeping his job and his salary. A valuable advantage, offered by the Parisian company Artur’In to all its employees with more than three years’ seniority. “It was a real good surprise: I’ll be able to slow down, take a step back,” rejoices the young man. For him, this leave comes at the right time: after five years spent in this company specializing in digital communication, three confinements and a health crisis, he admits to needing a “second wind”. “I have the feeling of having arrived at the end of a cycle. This period could allow me to take stock, refresh my state of mind”, he confides. While Anthony recently launched a building project in Bordeaux, these paid vacations would also allow him to move forward faster than expected in his project. “I could never have afforded to take two months without salary. For me, it’s a very strong gesture on the part of the company”, he wishes to specify, delighted.
A “success” for the director of human resources, who welcomes the reactions – obviously very positive – from her employees. Because in addition to this sabbatical leave, Artur’In has also offered its employees an additional week of paid leave per year, one day per quarter to engage in an associative cause or do volunteer work, and increased flexibility of working hours – for a medical appointment or picking up their children from school, for example. “After the Covid, we wanted to think about the future needs of employees, and recreate a positive momentum within the company”, justifies the HRD. Daphné Vauclin-de Calbiac is certain: despite the costs generated by these initiatives, the investment is worth it. “What we lose in budget, we gain in commitment, retention, loyalty. These are costs that cancel each other out,” she says. While certain profiles of the company are “rare and precious”, management hopes to limit post-Covid turnover and re-motivate its employees. “Normally, the only way to take such a long break is to quit your job, then start again elsewhere. We offer an alternative,” concludes the HRD.
The implementation of this strategy, which benefits both the employee and the employer, is far from unique. Unlimited paid leave, possibility of telecommuting anywhere in France or from abroad, sports sessions on the premises, free massage or yoga sessions, and even corporate life coach… To stand out from their competitors, keep their talents and recruiting the best profiles, some companies are betting everything on the well-being of their employees. “In tech or the commercial sector, for example, the labor market is increasingly competitive. Companies must display advantages that will allow them to recruit the best profiles”, summarizes Charles Chantala, commercial director at Indeed. And since the health crisis, the phenomenon continues to accelerate. “Companies have understood that something is at stake in well-being at work. To recruit or keep your nuggets, the salary is no longer enough”, estimates the specialist, whose observation is clear: “It is now the norm. Investing a million in extra paid holidays or nap rooms is as smart as spending a million on research and development.”
“It has become as important as the salary”
Out of the hundreds of advertisements posted each week on the online recruitment site Welcome to the Jungle, the general manager Camille Fauran has thus observed a real evolution in the proposals of companies. “Before, there were three lines on mutual insurance, restaurant tickets and transport offers. Now you have whole paragraphs offering training, coaching, sport or teleworking… It has become as important than the salary”, she analyzes. According to a survey currently being conducted by Welcome to the Jungle on 1,500 respondents looking for a job, Camille Fauran indicates that company benefits now come second in the selection criteria for future employees, just after remuneration. “This is what makes a position attractive. Not wanting to be aware of this phenomenon as an employer is risky”, underlines the specialist, referring to the 20 million Americans who quit since the start of the health crisis. “Since the pandemic, there has been more and more reflection on the meaning that we give to our work, the place it takes in our lives. Between candidates and recruiters, the balance of power is reversed”, she warns.
Some have understood this well. For the past few months, the Parisian company PrestaShop, which specializes in e-commerce solutions, has for example given its employees the possibility of teleworking from abroad for half the year – within the limit of three consecutive months. The measure, tested for six months, is appealing: around ten employees have already benefited from it, working from Argentina, the United States or even Ukraine. “We are in a very competitive context: we wanted to attract new talent”, admits Alexandre Eruimy, CEO of the company. While his company has more than 200 employees from 18 different nationalities, the man also adds to respond to a wish formulated by his teams. “They now have the opportunity to find their families during the holidays or to travel, without taking days off,” he says. Lynn, account manager at PrestaShop for a year, was able to join her family in Lebanon for three weeks for the winter holidays, for example, without having to dip into her paid holidays or RTT. “It’s clearly an advantage that I haven’t found in other companies… And it builds loyalty,” she admits.
Beware of “gadget” measures
But beware: according to Charles Chantala, these proposals require a certain organization on the part of the management. “We must set up quantified, measurable and precise objectives, with a lot of flexibility in the way of achieving them”, indicates the commercial director of Indeed, who also recalls that these measures are not aimed at all types of companies. “You have to have a particular managerial culture, in which the relationship with the hierarchy is more flexible. It’s a job of trust, which requires great autonomy on the part of the employees”, explains the specialist. Above all, not all types of professions are yet affected by such advantages. In building or catering, “we start from afar”, says Charles Chantala. “The first improvement in the quality of life at work for these sectors would be to offer days of seven consecutive hours, for example”.
For Camille Fauran, employers in the sectors concerned must also be vigilant about the “gadget” measures offered to their future recruits, preferring to gift vouchers or free chocolate bars “more sustainable and deeper” solutions concerning their well-being at work. “With the health crisis, companies realized that they had a real role to play in the mental health of their employees,” she insists. Recently, some of them have been offering sophrology, yoga or personal coaching sessions on their premises or remotely, or even meetings with occupational psychologists. “The number of requests has at least tripled since the pandemic,” confirms Elsa Buffet, commercial director of RelActiva, a company specializing in corporate well-being activities. Beyond the traditional massages or sports sessions previously ordered by her clients, the specialist observes a change in the requests of the management, more fond of stress management, relaxation or even sleep management workshops. “These are issues brought about by the Covid crisis. We feel companies are much more concerned about the mental health of their employees,” she believes.
An observation confirmed by Pierre-Étienne Bidon, founder of the Moka.care platform, which offers employees individual or collective therapy and coaching sessions. “Corporate mental health is no longer taboo,” he rejoices. The figures speak for themselves: created just two years ago, his company was already supporting a dozen companies at the end of 2020, and a hundred at the end of 2021, in France and Europe. L’Oreal, La Poste, Doctolib, EDF, Qonto… “Companies from all sectors call on our services, and it continues to increase. This subject no longer only concerns employees exposed to high psychosocial risks, and management has understood this”, insists the entrepreneur, according to whom psychological support and mental well-being at work have become “decisive” elements for the development of employees. According to the latest barometer from the specialist firm Empreinte Humaine on the quality of life at work, 2.5 million employees said they were in a situation of severe burnout last October – an increase of 25% compared to May 2021.