France: 2023 agreements on older workers focus mainly on support towards retirement

With social partners soon to sit down to negotiate a national inter-professional agreement (ANI) on the employment of older workers, mind RH has analysed the company agreements signed since the beginning of the year, in anticipation of the pension reform, to organise the continued employment of employees up to the age of 64. While most of these agreements focus on end-of-career arrangements, which was already the case in previous agreements, the focus now seems to be on training and job retention, as well as on preventing arduous work.

Without waiting for the pension reform to be implemented, several companies have negotiated new agreements with trade unions to take account of the legal retirement age rising to 64 and to make it easier for older employees to remain in work. The subject is addressed in agreements following compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) as well as those on management of jobs and career paths (GEPP), workplace equality and quality of life at work, as well as in generation contracts. But it has also been the subject of specific negotiations that have led to the signing of plans or agreements for older workers or even end-of-career arrangements. mind RH has therefore taken a particular interest in the latter. We identified 19 agreements and clauses of this type, 13 of which focused mainly on end-of-career arrangements, out of the 74 texts dealing with the employment of older workers signed between 1 January and the publication of the implementing decrees for the reform on 11 August.

Transnational company agreements: older workers the great forgotten of negotiations

50, the pivotal age

Raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 means that companies will have to keep their older employees working longer. However, the age at which an employee is considered to be senior varies from company to company. Safran, the aerospace group, prefers to use the term “experienced employees” rather than “seniors”, which it defines as those aged 50 and over (13,500 of the company’s 44,000 employees in France). For many employers, anticipation of the second half of careers begins at this age. A second important moment comes after the age of 55.…

Nathalie Tran avec Othélie Brion et Antoine Piel

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