From 6 June to 6 July, ALEBA undertook a survey via its website, of delegates and employees of the insurance sector on the new collective agreement (Convention Collective de Travail - CCT), regarding which negotiations will start at the end of the year.

ALEBA thanked those who responded, including providing constructive ideas to be incorporated into the new collective agreement.

Among the points most often mentioned is the maintenance and increase of the economic premium, commonly called the June premium. The second issue related to a substantial linear increase in wages and an annual bonus given the excellent results posted by companies in the sector. This is despite an increase in the payroll due to the hiring of highly qualified people in recent years to address the legal obligation of the supervisory authorities (Solvency II, the fight against money laundering, etc.).

The third issue refers to the social aspect and work / life balance, including leave, access to part-time work arrangements and protection against stress and bullying in order to compensate for a daily increase of workload. Increased sick leave days ("family leave") has also been requested on a number of occasions.

Given that a bill with the same objective is under discussion, ALEBA has stated that it will not introduce this request in the list of demands, but will ensure that the bill meets the expectations of the employees.

The results of the survey also showed a strong demand for a reduction in working time for older employees approaching the end of a career and before retirement; ALEBA will reflect on this proposal and how to put it in place.

A more flexible approach to work schedules was deemed to be more important than the demand for telework arrangements. These two elements will be further explored by ALEBA, and concrete and constructive proposals will also be suggested, taking into account that increased flexibility of working hours and teleworking can obviously contribute to the welfare of employees, but are also evolutions in societal inequality in the context of work/life balance. However, certain constraints (tax, for example in the case of teleworking) must be taken into account.

Some respondents introduced a new and really interesting idea: to have the opportunity to buy back days that would be deducted from the 13th month, for example.

To conclude, the results of this survey show that: employees want to maintain at least their current knowledge; the new collective agreement must adapt to new working methods and must limit employer abuses on several aspects: overtime, over-recruitment of trainees or students.