For years, employees of the French company EDF have enjoyed a perk almost inconceivable to their counterparts in the rest of the industrialised world — ten weeks’ holiday a year, reports the Financial Times.
Now EDF, the state-owned utility, is seeking to call time on the arrangement, in a move that reflects France’s increasing willingness to loosen the rigidities of its labour market.
The 10 weeks of holiday enjoyed by about 30,000 of EDF’s white-collar employees were negotiated in 1999, as France moved to a statutory 35-hour working week.
Because EDF staff work an average of 39.5 hours a week, four-and-a-half more than the 35-hour legal limit, they were compensated with what amounts to an additional 23 days off a year, on top of 27 days’ conventional holiday.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, EDF chief executive, is offering employees a one-off €10,000 payment to persuade them to work 212 days a year, rather than the current 196. Executives, who earn €51,600 a year on average, can also opt for a pay rise of 4-6 per cent.
“We are no longer in the same market as in 1999,” wrote Philippe Torrion, the group strategy director, in an internal message to employees earlier this month. “It is also a question of credibility. We cannot be out of step with the world.”