Here is a detailed toolkit of measures that can be activated during periods of reduced activity, with figures and illustrations to understand their impact.
Adjusting Headcount and Payroll Costs
Payroll costs often represent 30 to 50% of an SME’s expenses. In an uncertain economic environment, adapting headcount is the first lever to activate. However, this must be done while preserving employee engagement.
Immediate and Temporary Measures
Before considering more drastic decisions, several actions can help adapt headcount to reduced activity:
- Non-renewal of short-term contracts (temporary workers, fixed-term contracts)
- Impact: immediate reduction in payroll costs with no legal repercussions.
- Example: a company with 5 temporary workers at 2,500 euros/month saves 12,500 euros per month by not renewing these contracts.
- Mandating paid leave and compensatory time off (RTT)
- Impact: reduces the cost of under-activity without layoffs.
- Example: if a company has a monthly payroll of 300,000 euros for 30 employees and they take 10 days of leave (approximately 1/3 of the month), the company saves the equivalent of 10% of the monthly payroll.
- Short-time work (partial unemployment)
- Impact: the government covers part of the wages (on average 72% of net pay and 100% for employees at minimum wage).
- Employee secondment
- Impact: temporary loan of employees to another company, avoiding layoffs. Loans are made at cost for a defined period.
- Example: an SME experiencing reduced activity can lend 5 employees to a company in need, thus saving those payroll costs during the period.
Structural Adjustments
If the period of uncertainty continues, temporary measures may no longer suffice. It then becomes necessary to adopt structural solutions that allow for deeper and more lasting adaptation to the company’s new economic realities.
- Negotiated transition to part-time work
- Impact: reduces payroll costs while maintaining employment for a defined period with compensation for employees.
- Example: if 10 employees move from 39 hours to 30 hours per week, a 23% reduction in working time, a company with an average payroll of 35,000 euros for these 10 employees saves approximately 8,000 euros.
- Salary reductions with employee agreement
- Impact: helps avoid layoffs during periods of uncertainty.
- Example: a 5% salary reduction for an SME with a monthly payroll of 500,000 euros represents savings of 25,000 euros/month.
- Negotiated departures
- Impact: reduces fixed costs through individual agreements, with a calm and controlled dialogue. Less confrontational than a dismissal, it helps maintain a healthy workplace climate and manage headcount flexibly.
- If a company goes from 30 to 20 employees through negotiated departures, it reduces its monthly costs from 90,000 euros to 60,000 euros, subject to a departure package to be negotiated. The return on investment can be achieved within a few months.
Optimizing Work Organization
Adapting work organization helps maintain competitiveness with fewer resources. An effective reorganization allows the company to match activity to demand while limiting unnecessary costs.
Working Time Flexibility
- Annualization of working time
- Impact: adjust schedules to low and high activity periods.
- Example: an activity cycle with 39 hours/week in peak season and 31 hours/week in off-season allows approximately 7% savings on payroll costs.
- Fixed-day contracts
- Impact: eliminate hourly references for managers and optimize productivity.
- Example: a manager paid on a basis of 235 working days/year instead of 218 allows workload optimization without a salary increase.
- Time Savings Account (CET)
- Impact: allows banking overtime hours without immediate payment. However, cash flow management must be carefully monitored in case of employee departures.
- Example: an employee accumulating 20 overtime hours per month (at an hourly rate of 20 euros per hour) in a CET allows an immediate saving of 20% on overtime costs.
Rethinking Compensation Policy
An adapted compensation system engages employees while reducing fixed costs. The goal is to shift the paradigm and transform a budget constraint into a lever for motivation and performance.
Introducing Variable Compensation
- Performance-based bonuses rather than fixed salary increases
- Impact: transforms a fixed cost into a variable cost.
- Example: an SME that replaces a 150 euros/month raise with an annual bonus of 1,800 euros conditional on performance saves money if the target is not met.
- Elimination of obsolete bonuses
- Impact: reallocate resources where they are most useful.
- Example: a company that eliminates a bonus of 5% of monthly salary for 30 employees saves 7,500 euros/month.
Social Exemptions and Tax Benefits
- Profit-sharing
- Impact: incentive-based, impact-driven compensation, exempt from employer contributions under certain conditions. The company can choose to implement positive-impact criteria for profit-sharing, such as reducing waste for example.
- Example: profit-sharing of 1,000 euros/employee costs 20% less than an equivalent salary bonus.
- Company Savings Plans (PEE) and PERECO
- Impact: allows employees to save with tax advantages.
- Example: a 1,000-euro employer contribution to a PEE costs less than 800 euros for the company compared to 1,300 euros for a standard bonus.
A Tailored HR Policy for Recovery
HR management is not limited to cost reduction. Preparing for recovery is just as crucial as managing the downturn. A strategic HR plan transforms a difficult period into an opportunity for evolution and internal skills reinforcement.
- Invest in training
- Impact: strengthens employability and employee motivation.
- Example: using periods of reduced activity to train 20 employees with OPCO funding allows upskilling at reduced cost.
- Social audit and HR diagnostic
- Impact: identify strengths and weaknesses to anticipate recovery.
- Strengthened social dialogue
- Impact: better communication prevents conflicts and facilitates necessary adjustments.
Why Engage a Time-Sharing HR Professional in Uncertain Times?
Implementing these measures requires expertise in labor law, HR management, and business strategy. For an SME, a time-sharing HR professional is an agile and cost-effective solution, enabling the rapid activation of the right levers without burdening the organizational structure. It is a time-limited investment that should generate savings.
During a difficult period, flexible and responsive HR management is the key to transforming a challenging time into an opportunity for strengthening and growth.
