Background information

On 17 July 2020, in order to avoid reducing its workforce at several sites in France, the Bosch industrial group concluded an agreement on the long-term partial activity scheme (DSAP) with all the employee trade union organisations (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FO and SUD). The group was one of the first in France to introduce this new short-time working arrangement. It will apply until 30 June 2022 to all employees of the Bosch Group in France. Employees may be placed in partial activity up to a limit of 40% of their working time, with remuneration of 90% of their net salary. The Group undertakes, at the time of each request to the administration for a transfer into the scheme, not to make any redundancies for economic reasons.

Content of measure

The specific partial activity system (DSAP) may be set up at the group's various sites. Depending on business constraints, the reduction in working hours may not exceed 40% of working time. The volume of hours concerned will be assessed 'employee by employee' over the duration of the request for partial activity within the establishment or company concerned, unless an exception is made (for example, in the case of a qualifying training course).

A provisional schedule for the use of the partial activity scheme will be presented to the social and economic committee (CSE) for the duration of the request for partial activity. An indicative percentage of recourse to the scheme will be defined. At each ordinary meeting of the ESC, the half-yearly forecast will be updated. Non-nominative but individualised lists, employee by employee, will also be presented, with the hours worked.

Compensation for reduced activity

Legally, the agreement recalls, the amount of the partial activity allowance paid to the employee is set at 70% of gross pay, i.e. approximately 84% of net pay. In the agreement, the management undertakes to increase the amount of the partial allowance as follows:

• Pending validation of the agreement by the administration and due to the summer period, management has applied, for the hours not worked in July, a maintenance of 90% of the net monthly salary, i.e. 75% of the gross monthly salary, except for Forfait-jours employees (i.e. those whose working hours are expressed in days worked over a year), who benefit from the maintenance of 100% of the net monthly salary.
• Since 1 August, this maintenance of 90% of net monthly pay has applied to all employees, including those on "forfait-jours" contracts. The agreement states that, if the employee so wishes, it may use a rest day to replace a day of partial activity, in order to avoid loss of pay or loss of holiday pay (the time savings account being closed in the event of partial activity). The management undertakes to neutralise non-worked hours for the calculation of certain bonuses (half-yearly bonus, precariousness bonus for fixed-term contracts), the distribution of profit-sharing and incentive schemes and for the calculation of the CSE's budgets.

A commitment to maintaining employment

In view of the economic uncertainties' affecting the group's various activities, the company or establishment that will use this system will undertake at each request to the administration, for a maximum period of six months, not to make any redundancies for economic reasons or "rupture conventionnelle collective" (which allows for voluntary collective redundancies), except in the case of procedures already under way.

A commitment to training

In addition, periods of low activity can be an opportunity to implement training actions aimed at enabling employees to maintain and develop their skills and qualifications. Each company or establishment using the DSAP will offer each employee who is only partially active in the company or establishment training courses, with training being paid at 100% of net pay for the hours concerned. This training request may involve the mobilisation of the training personal account (CPF), as specified in the agreement.

Implementation of the agreement

The agreement sets out the 'general principles to be respected' for applications for DSAP. The administrative process must begin after the social and economic committee of the company or establishment has been informed and consulted, in particular on the diagnosis of the economic situation and the practical arrangements for implementing the DSAP. The agreement specifies that a monthly monitoring of the agreement will be carried out between two representatives per signatory union organisation and management, in particular to identify any difficulties in its application.

Use of measure

The German group Bosch, which has 400,000 employees worldwide, employed 6,600 people in France at the end of 2019. The agreement applies to the 6,600 employees.

Contents

• Employment retention
• Income protection
• Leave arrangements
• Training and employability
• Working time flexibility

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social partners jointly Trade unions Company / Companies	Companies Employer National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Consulted
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

The agreement on the long-term partial activity scheme (DSAP) was signed between management and all the representative trade union organisations (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FO and SUD).

Views and reactions

All the representative trade union organisations (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FO and SUD) have signed this agreement and therefore support its measures.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 26 June 2020: Décret n° 2020-794 du 26 juin 2020 relatif à l'activité partielle (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 17 July 2020: Accord du 17 juillet 2020 relatif à la mise en place d’un dispositif spécifique d’activité partielle au sein du groupe Bosch France