Employee benefits, what are the options?
CSE: mission and employee benefit
Like its predecessors (works council CE, DP and CHSCT), the overall mission of the CSE is to contribute to the well-being of employees . The scope of the mission and the scope of responsibility of CSE elected representatives are dependent on the number of employees.
For companies with less than 50 employees, a CSE can neither claim civil status nor open a bank account. The mission of the social and economic committee covers the following fields:
• relay of transmission of employee complaints;
• seizure of the labor inspector to report legal violations;
• promotion of hygiene, safety and working conditions.
The employer still has the choice of offering and managing employee benefits directly (the CSE has no civil status). In doing so, it achieves a double gain: it will motivate its human resources while achieving savings in social and employer charges.
Indeed, providing an employee with a subsidy of 100 euros in the context of an employee benefit (sporting, cultural activity, etc.) will allow the employer to save 80 euros in social and employer contributions that he would have to to pay if he had granted the 100 euros as a bonus. In both cases (employee benefit or bonus on bulletin), the purchasing power of the employee will have increased by 100 euros, but the option of the employee benefit provides a tax benefit of 80 euros to the employer.
For companies with at least 50 employees, the CSE is considered to be a full-fledged civilian. He can be the registered holder of a bank account, conclude contracts and can also take legal action. The CSE completely replaces the 3 old instances: DP, CE and CHSCT.
Inheriting the works council's missions, the CSE has a right of scrutiny and action on strategic decisions, the economic situation and the social life of the company, without forgetting the ASC (social and cultural activities) that it administered directly.
The expectations of employees in terms of employee benefits are ambitious, they do not fail to take advantage of them massively. This plebiscite makes the administration of employee benefits by a CE or a CSE time consuming, consuming time and energy.
New economic players have entered this niche, they have designed offers and proposals for employees and their CSE representatives.
Regarding employees, they have negotiated partnerships with suppliers to provide them with a range of quality products and services, at the best price conditions. As for CSE elected officials , they propose to relieve them of the burden of the administrative management of employee benefits. This is Uggy's mission!
What are the different types of employee benefits that a CSE can offer?
Employee benefits (perks in English) are a powerful lever to motivate, retain and recruit human resources
As the expectations of employees have changed, CSE representatives (like their predecessors of the works council) must adapt so that the employee benefits offered bring satisfaction to employees.
Framed by URSSAF regulations, the proposals for employee benefits of CSEs can be divided into 3 main categories:
Gift Certificates
A gift voucher is a voucher made available to the employee; the seller is a partner brand. For it not to be subject to social charges, its amount must not exceed during a calendar year 5% of the monthly ceiling set by Social Security (i.e. € 169 in 2019).
The gift voucher must be linked to the 11 URSSAF events:
• wedding ;
• birth, adoption;
• retirement ;
• Saint Catherine and Saint Nicolas;
• back to school;
• Christmas and Christmas for children (up to their 16 years);
• Mother's Day, Father's Day.
In addition, the gift voucher must be used for the purchase of a property in correlation with the event celebrated.
Tariff reductions
These are cards to be used to benefit from reductions in payment.
For the card to be exempt, the tariff reductions must be linked to services which fall within the framework of CHWs (social and cultural activities) for the employee and his dependents.
The funding of access to a tariff reduction platform could be considered as an ASC. The total cost of the card is paid by the CE / CSE, it will be allocated to the ASC budget and not to the operating budget .
Reimbursement of social and cultural activities
The CSE may also reimburse expenses arising from the practice of a sporting or cultural activity freely chosen by the employee. This method has the advantage of being flexible in terms of the choice made by the employee. However, it is complex to administer by the CSEs.
The subsidy covers a good number of hobbies:
- Sports activities (subscription to the gym, purchase of entrance tickets to the swimming pool).
- Cultural activities (dance lessons, music, fine arts).
- Participation in cultural events (theater play, concerts, festival, cinema).
- Subscriptions to online platforms dedicated to culture.
- travel (plane tickets, train tickets, car rental or accommodation, hotel, toll receipts).
After fixing the amount granted to the employees, the CE / CSE representatives must communicate the benefit to the employees, collect the supporting documents and check their validity according to the standards of URSSAF in particular.
The mission of the CSEs is essential for the well-being of employees, the serene development of businesses and overall social cohesion. Good management of employee benefits has a strong impact on the contribution of a CSE. Using dedicated platforms is a good decision to optimize the CSE budgets devoted to employee benefits .
