Reduction of working time at IKEA includes managerial staff

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In May 1999, an agreement on the reduction of working time, in line with the 1998 legislation on the 35-hour week, was signed in France by the CFDT trade union and the management of the IKEA furniture retail group. The other unions concerned have not yet given their reactions to this agreement, which includes managerial staff in the hours cuts.

In May 1999, the management of IKEA and the CFDT trade union signed an agreement on the reduction of working time, implementing the June 1998 "Aubry" law on the 35-hour working week (FR9806113F). Unusually, the agreement at the Swedish-based furniture retailer includes managerial and professional staff in the hours cuts. It contains a 10% reduction of working time for all staff which, in practice, means the following:

• a working week of 33 hours, instead of 36 hours 45 minutes, for non-managerial staff;

• a working week of 35 hours, instead of 39 hours, for supervisors and those with a status equivalent to managerial staff.;

• a working week of 37 hours, instead of 39 hours, plus 12 extra days off, for non-travelling managerial and professional staff, giving them a total of 214 working days per year; and

• 23 extra days off per year and an average working week of 35 hours on an annualised basis for travelling managerial staff , who also receive paid overtime and have fixed limits to maximum daily and weekly working hours. This is equivalent to 203 working days per year.

The agreement provides for the recruitment on 125 employees on open-ended contracts (around 7% of the workforce) of which 12 will be at supervisory level and three in management. Part-time staff who do not wish to work fewer hours than those specified in their original contracts will have an 11.4% rise in hourly pay. Moreover, the level of basic gross pay will be maintained, with wage restraint planned for the future. Under existing variable work schedules, weekly hours will be set at a minimum of 22 hours per week and a maximum of 41 hours (44 hours for managerial and professional staff). Compensation for this flexibility will take the form of an extra reduction of working hours by 40 minutes per week for white-collar staff and four extra days off per year for supervisory staff and those with a status equivalent to managerial staff.

The agreement provides for three types of working time packages for managerial staff:

• with no reference to the number of hours worked, for store managers (managers, assistants and trainees), directors or department heads and members of the company's top management;

• with specified working hours (166 hours 50 minutes per month, or 38 hours 30 minutes per week) for non-travelling managerial staff; and

• 203 days of work per year, not including travel, for travelling managerial staff, at a weekly average of 35 hours, with overtime counted and paid.

The system by which managerial working time is counted will take two forms:

• clocking in for supervisory staff, those with status equivalent to managerial staff, and non-travelling managerial staff; and

• weekly timesheets filled in by travelling managerial staff.

CFDT signed this agreement because it felt that it set an example in the furniture retail trade, where sector-level negotiations on the 35-hour week have not yet started. The managerial and professional staff union affiliated to CGT (Union générale des ingénieurs, cadres et techniciens de la CGT, UGICT-CGT) is using the example of the IKEA agreement as the basis of its challenge to the idea that "it is impossible to count how many hours certain categories of managerial staff work" (FR9906190F).