In France, the unemployment rate will reach 7.2% among the population in 2022, according to Pôle Emploi. In order to encourage business creation and takeover, the government facilitates access for job seekers, retraining workers, or anyone with the entrepreneurial spirit to simply set up their own company. However, some people struggle to get started for fear of failing, of launching a project that is too ambitious, but also because of the financial insecurity that independent status represents.
To compensate for this, wage portage has been established since the end of the 20th century as a solution adapted to the desire to undertake without taking too many risks. What is the history of wage portage? What are the key dates to remember? Overview.
1980: the birth of wage portage
It was in the 1980s that wage portage was born in France. At the origin of this birth, a sad observation. Unemployed senior executives struggle to find a job, despite their skills and professional experience. Several associations of former executives then came together to create and welcome these job-seeking executives. The goal? Find them service assignments without them having to create a business. The advantages for executives lie in access to the advantages of salaried employment while working – almost – on their own account.
1998 and 2004: the National Union of Portage Companies and the National Federation of Wage Portage
Great first on the national territory. A first union was founded to oversee wage portage in 1998 and responded to the name of National Union of Portage Companies (SNEPS). This association has the interest of promoting the advantages of wage portage, and defining the tools necessary for its development. In 2012, this union merged with the National Federation of Wage Portage (FeNPS), created in 2004, and has a hundred members, and nearly 300 wage portage companies. The new union bears the name of PEPS: Professional employment union in wage portage.
2008: wage portage recognized in the Labor Code
This is an important date in the history of wage portage. Indeed, this hybrid way of working officially falls within the lines of the French Labor Codes. On June 25, 2008, a legal framework is therefore imposed on wage portage. On this occasion, the lending of illicit labor becomes an offence. Wage portage now exists legally in the French economic landscape.
2010: Negotiations and agreements for supported employees
As the profession needs to be strictly supervised, the unions have negotiated agreements around wage portage. Here are the changes:
- entrust the negotiation of agreements to a well-structured branch (PRISM = temporary work/Interim) and having experienced interlocutors;
- limit the portage to professions and fields of activity whose core business is based exclusively on intellectual services with high added value.
2013: job loss and wage portage
Great advantage of wage portage: benefit from the same insurance as ordinary employees. Thus, from July 18, 2013, employees who lose their professional activity can now claim unemployment insurance. For this, they contribute each month to cover them if necessary.
2015: the new turning point
In April 2015, a new ordinance comes complete the legal framework for wage portage. The purpose of this is to secure the status of carried employee: to widen the number of people who can have access to the portage as well as the guarantees of the carried employees. Finally, the use of wage portage missions through a fixed-term contract is simplified and made more flexible.
At the end of 2015, the decree of December 30 closed the legal framework for wage portage. The government then took a closer look the amount and the financial guarantee of wage portage companies.
2017: the collective wage portage agreement
A great novelty in 2017, the unions voted unanimously to design of a collective agreement for wage portage employees. Always with a view to securing this professional status: insurance, workplaces, work accidents during the prospecting phase, travel expenses, etc.
Wage portage has been on the rise since its creation. Smooth transition to self-employed status or the creation of a company, this status allows entrepreneurs to test their activity of intellectual services while focusing on value-added tasks. The wage portage company then takes care of the administration of the carried employee and provides him with all the reassuring framework linked to this status. One of the constraints: the threshold of turnover not to be exceeded annually to continue its activity in wage portage (approximately 30,000 euros). In 2021, nearly 100,000 workers will continue their activity as paid employees.
(Photo credit: iStock).
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