France Telecom S.A. has signed an agreement on optional employee profit sharing with the CFDT-F3C, CFE-CGC/UNSA and FO-COM trade unions, representing more than 50% of the votes cast in the most recent employee elections.

Covering the 2012-2014 periods, the three year agreement concerns the 96,000 employees of France Telecom S.A. It sets new rules for calculating optional profit sharing. Previously determined based on financial criteria, it will now be calculated based on the achievement of operational financial objectives and customer service quality objectives that support the company’s guidance.

These two criteria will each generate their own share of the optional profit sharing. In addition, new, lower thresholds were set for this category of profit-sharing to reflect the economic and social context.

In particular, under the agreement signed the payment of optional profit sharing is triggered when 90% of the established objectives are met (financial or service quality), versus 95% previously; the overall budget for optional profit-sharing represents 4% of payroll when 100% of the objectives are met.The optional profit-sharing budget is divided equitably in terms of each person's contribution: 50% is based on salary and 50% on hours worked.

The agreement will apply to each France Telecom S.A. employee, regardless of his or her level, who will receive a share of the profits for 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Bruno Mettling, France Telecom-Orange’s Human Resources Director, said “Through this agreement, we are committed to recognizing the work of each person over time, despite the difficult economic and competitive environment.”

The optional profit sharing budget for 2011 performance was 185 million euros, giving a profit sharing rate of 4.9%. For annual wages of 41,500 euros, for example, that represented 1,970 euros in individual profit sharing.