It is paradoxical, the number of employer groups is slipping while this more flexible mode of recruitment is in vogue. Created almost forty years ago to enable SMEs to have specialized skills in time sharing, they have still not taken off. “The device is too little known”, laments Jérôme Bazin, the president of the Breton group Vénétis. He was also little pushed by the state and his lobbying is less offensive than that of the interim.
According to the very recent study by the Department of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares), there are 800 groups of companies, excluding the agricultural sector. The workforce has stagnated for years at less than 15,000 employees – 14,800 precisely – and the formula remains underused.
Strengthen teams
These structures experienced a diversification of sectors and skills, with, however, a strong representation of employees and workers (72%), more than technicians and supervisors (19%) and engineers and managers (8%). .
It is in this context, and in connection with the government’s objective of combating the excessive use of short-term contracts, that the Ministry of Labor launched in December 2021 a call for expressions of interest to create a new dynamic.
Of the 229 projects submitted, 158 were selected: 78% target the development of existing groups, 22% the creation of new ones. At the end of the day, an envelope of 6 million euros which should help to strengthen the teams, in particular in sectors in tension such as those of home help and the agri-food industry.
The system is not lacking in interest for SMEs and has the guarantee of Bpifrance. “You only bear the salary costs in proportion to the use of the workforce, with management costs reduced to a minimum”, explains the public bank on its website to their attention.
Complementary solution to the interim
For the president of the National Union of Employers’ Groups, Karim Khetib, this shared wage system is a complementary solution to temporary work. “The cost to the business is equivalent,” he says. In addition to annual membership in a group, the amount of which is around 150 euros, the company that uses the skills is billed an average additional cost of 0.73% for the administrative management of the employee.
Moreover, these multi-employer profiles are very attractive for companies looking to recruit, he points out. It is therefore not uncommon for them to be hired directly and integrated into the teams in the long term. The group Triskell, 78 member companies, also regularly experience it. In this company based in Carhaix (Finistère), which has a turnover of 1 million euros, employees are generally made available in two or three surrounding companies, which have complementary needs in terms of schedule and qualifications. .
So Sarah, a quality assistant, has divided her professional schedule for years between several companies in the city: three days in a poultry slaughterhouse, two others in a company specializing in animal feed. And then, “his work was noticed. She is now directly employed on a permanent contract in a company, we served as a springboard for her, it is our mission, “says Christine Perennesdirector of the group.
For his part, Nicolas Buffet, director of Concept Espaces Verts, a company based in Gourin (Morbihan), has been using the skills of an administrative manager from Triskell for eight years. She is present in her company four hours a week and has freed up the manager’s wife, who was initially in charge of the accounts. “She was thus able to free up time to pass her nursing diploma”, specifies the manager of this company made up of 4 people.
Young graduates
Group President Socomore (Vannes, Morbihan) specialized in technical products for the maintenance of aeronautical surfaces, Frederic Lescure made extensive use of the human resources of a group (Venetis) to set up his company, which today has 400 employees. “I didn’t initially have the means to hire full-time, he notes. The HRD and the legal manager started out on a timeshare basis before joining the company on a permanent contract. »
To attract more young people to the job opportunities offered by employer groups, Karim Khetib, also managing director of Alliance Emploi – 1,800 time-sharing employees in six regions – has created an experimental scheme to arouse their interest. With the Jobswitcher program, fifteen young graduates can, for a period of twelve to eighteen months, share their week between several companies to put themselves to the test in various professional worlds and increase their experience tenfold. Karim Khetib intends to repeat the experience with a hundred young people registered in 2023.
