Michelin, unions sign “quality of working life” agreement

In order to offer a “comprehensive response to evolving employee expectations” about their working environment and conditions, Michelin has entered into a new four-year agreement with the four labour unions representing its workforce in France. The tyre maker and the CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT and SUD unions signed the ‘People and their Working Environment’ agreement on 5 January 2023.

Michelin says the five parties agree upon points that align with its ‘All Sustainable’ vision as well as the ambition to become a global reference by 2030 in regards to employee engagement, diversity and inclusion. Key features of the agreement include additional incentives for employees to utilise public transport or carpooling opportunities during their commute as well a simplified process of obtaining leave when caring for loved ones.

“With this agreement, the management and labour unions confirm that quality of working life is an important factor for employee engagement, and a prerequisite of team and individual performance,” states Michelin.

The tyre maker elaborates on the agreement in a press release:

The People and their Working Environment agreement covers four areas:

1. Contributing to accelerate the ecological transition, to help make necessary changes to commuting habits;
2. Supporting employees during the various challenges and stages of their personal lives, to help offer a greater professional and personal life balance;
3. Promoting diversity and inclusion, to contribute to the Group’s development by fostering creativity and innovation;
4. Creating a working environment which supports empowerment and collective intelligence.

In the agreement, this guidance is translated into two new concrete measures:

• Encouraging the transition to more sustainable mobility, by promoting travel by public transportation and by developing car-pooling initiatives for employees’ commutes thanks to:
An increase in the coverage of public transport costs from 50 to 80% (with a cap of 300€ for the additional 30%),
The introduction of a Sustainable Mobility Flat Rate and a car-pooling platform. The system will provide free commutes of up to 800€ per year for passengers, as well as a fixed allowance for drivers.

• Supporting employees during challenging times in their personal lives in order to:
Simplify existing leave of absence schemes and ease the administrative burden, to help employees with a seriously ill child or with a loved one who loses their autonomy,
Increase the number of days for family caregivers from 5 to 66 days per employee.

Of the other noteworthy developments, the agreement includes:

Increased action to promote diversity and gender equality, in particular through specific training in professions which are still prone to significant gender equality gaps (Industry and Business) and increase the proportion of women in positions of responsibility;
Defining new measures to support parenthood;
Increasing equal opportunities, with specific recruitment drives targeting refugees, the long-term unemployed and job seekers;
Creating a complete assistance measure for managers to ensure an inclusive framework and to promote diversity.