Employees and negotiation during their annual review

As a partner in the performance of organizations and their leaders, the HR consulting and services group Grant Alexander shares the results of an exclusive study aimed at assessing the relationship of French private-sector employees to negotiation during their annual review.

The annual review: a decisive moment to negotiate pragmatic but also aspirational points
While fixed and variable compensation (annual bonus, thirteenth month, personal performance bonus, etc.) tops the list of negotiation topics for the next annual review (56% intend to raise it), it is far from being the only aspect employees wish to discuss on this occasion. In total, more than eight out of ten employees plan to enter into negotiations during this crucial meeting for their career (86%). Often going hand in hand with compensation, status progression ranks third among the most important topics to negotiate (34%).

Negotiation points

As the pandemic has transformed employees’ habits—by democratizing remote work and also by blurring the line between private and professional life—working conditions appear as decisive points of negotiation during upcoming annual reviews. 43% of employees intend to express their expectations in this regard. More specifically, 26% will put on the table the conditions and/or the number of days of remote work (respectively 19% and 15%), 19% working hours, 13% issues related to Quality of Work Life, and 10% the number of vacation days.
To read the full report, download the executive summary.

Methodological note
The study “Employees and negotiation during the annual review”, conducted by OpinionWay for Grant Alexander, aims to assess the relationship of French private-sector employees to negotiation during the annual review. This study was carried out with a sample of 1,042 company employees. All respondents work in private-sector companies with 50 employees or more. The sample was constituted using the quota method, based on criteria of gender, age, socio-professional category, and company region. Interviews were conducted using a self-administered online questionnaire on a CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) system. Interviews were conducted from May 30 to June 6, 2022.
Any full or partial publication must imperatively use the following complete mention: “OpinionWay survey for Grant Alexander”, and no reproduction of the survey may be dissociated from this title. OpinionWay also reminds that the results of this survey must be read taking into account the margins of uncertainty: at most 1.5 to 2.9 points for a sample of 1,000 respondents.
OpinionWay conducted this survey in compliance with the procedures and rules of the ISO 20252 standard.