What if your CSE stopped distributing gift vouchers?

Thématique Employee Benefits
21 mai 2020

As we saw in our article on QVT , employee benefits constitute a non-negligible increase in the purchasing power of employees, notably with meal vouchers and gift vouchers. However, according to statistics , of the more than 4 billion euros of gift vouchers distributed in 2019 in France, almost 20% are not used. This represents approximately 800 million.

Why are so many gift vouchers unused and how can I redeem them? We give you some answers in this article.

Gift vouchers: binding use

Gift vouchers can be distributed by the CSE or directly by the employer. According to URSAFF, they are considered as employee benefits granted by the employer in "consideration or on the occasion of work". As a result, they are subject to Social Security contributions. In addition, the allocation of gift vouchers must correspond to these events:

  • birth or adoption
  • marriage or PACS
  • retirement
  • fathers or mothers day
  • other festivals: Sainte-Catherine or Saint-Nicolas
  • Christmas (employees and their young children)
  • back to school for employees' children under 26

In addition, the use of gift vouchers must be appropriate to the event for which they were distributed to employees. For example, if you have received gift certificates for Christmas, you will need to use them to make purchases such as toys, tablets, etc. They should not normally be used for school supplies, books or even microcomputing which correspond to the "back to school" event.

It should also be noted that employees can only use their gift vouchers from a list of partner stores, which they may not find attractive. This will block their passage to action.

Reimbursement of expenses: an alternative to gift vouchers

When employees do not use their gift vouchers, this represents a loss for the CSE since they are not reimbursable by the service provider issuing the vouchers. To compensate for this shortfall, there are reimbursement solutions that can be implemented. And they have advantages both for the CSE and for the employees, since the CSE no longer takes the risk of distributing gift vouchers which risk not being used and the employee is sure of being reimbursed.

What exactly is this? To reimburse employees for expenses of their choice without being limited by a pre-established list of brands or partners. This therefore implies more flexibility.

If you need support in setting up a reimbursement solution for your employees, know that Uggy has developed one. Simply contact us to discuss and deploy it within your CSE.

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