Optimizing and reducing the bench rate is a major challenge for IT Services Companies. During this idle period, your employees often face forced inactivity and can sometimes lose their motivation.
It is therefore your responsibility to quickly find new engagements for your consultants and engineers. While a few days on the bench at an IT Services Company can give employees a chance to take a break, this period sometimes stretches to several weeks.
In that case, what concrete solutions can you offer your employees to bridge the inactivity?
What is bench time at an IT Services Company?
First, note that the bench period is not subject to any legal or contractual regulation.
For your employee, the bench corresponds to a non-working period between two
engagements. It is due to the end or absence of a commercial contract with the client.
During this idle period, your team member is waiting for a new engagement.
The bench can sometimes last only a few days. In some cases, however, this lull can extend to several weeks.
Unfortunately, your team member is not at fault. You therefore cannot hold them responsible for the absence of an engagement.
Furthermore, the bench does not imply any termination or suspension of the employment contract.
That is why it would be more accurate to call it an inter-engagement period, since your employee retains all their rights, including their fixed pay.
However, as the employer you are no longer required to cover their travel expenses or pay performance bonuses.
How to anticipate a bench period?
While the bench period is not subject to any specific regulations, you are still required to provide work to your employee (ruling no. 08-45298 of February 17, 2010).
It is therefore your responsibility to quickly find new engagements for your consultant or engineer, before the end of their current contract. With this anticipation in mind, regular check-ins with clients and team members are essential.
To do this, schedule recurring meetings with your clients to review the services they receive:
- What are their expectations regarding the service delivered?
- Is your employee well integrated and performing within their company?
- How does your client see the future with your employee?
- Are they planning to renew the engagement? And if so, with the same employee?
As you can see, it is up to you to do everything you can to secure your team member's future.
Of course, sometimes a client gives no indication about the future of your relationship and suddenly ends the contract. Despite all your best efforts, there is nothing you can do.
In any case, anticipation and communication with your client help you reduce the bench rate.
What rights does your employee have during a bench period?
During a bench period, your consultants or engineers are perfectly entitled to stay at home.
However, they need to remain reachable by email or phone and be ready to start a new contract.
Of course, your employee is not required to be in the starting blocks the moment a new engagement comes up. Remember that a minimum response time is required.
As an employer, you are responsible for staying informed about your employee's situation and reviewing their expectations.
To prevent isolation and disengagement among your consultants or engineers, it can be a good idea to ask them to come to the office.
If so, it is your responsibility to provide them with an appropriate workstation as well as an internal task suited to their qualifications. Obviously, a web developer should not end up making coffee and running photocopies.
Bench at IT Services Companies: what solutions to offer your employees?
Whether your employee chooses to stay at home or come to the office, you can offer several alternatives to inactivity.
Putting their skills to work internally, offering training, or even contributing their services to an NGO. Many options are available!
Put your employee to work internally
The idea is to leverage the skills of your consultants or engineers to develop or improve your internal solutions. This can include:
- Building a new application;
- Strengthening cybersecurity;
- Automating certain tasks;
- Rebuilding existing tools that are aging;
This collaboration in service of your company can significantly improve quality of work life while saving money.
Offer your employee training
Because IT moves quickly, your consultant or engineer can fall behind during a bench period.
It can therefore be a good idea to help them boost and refresh their skills through:
- Internal training with experts from your company or qualified facilitators;
- An external training with a specialized provider;
- An e-learning course they can take anywhere, at home or at the office.
Finally, training is a medium-term investment. Your consultant or engineer gains new skills, and as a result, their value to your clients increases.
It is also a clear sign of trust to your employees. This kind of investment shows that you believe in them and in their skills.
Become a corporate sponsor of a charity
Corporate sponsorship generally produces wonderful collaborations.
When charities or NGOs have an IT project of public interest, they generally turn to companies for support.
For your company, this is an excellent way to enhance your brand and offer your employees a unique experience in service of a worthy cause.
What about RTT during a bench period?
If you have no solution to offer your employee on the bench, you can ask them to use their RTT (working time reduction days).
Be careful though, because you must follow a specific regulatory framework:
- A notice period of 2 months is required to impose paid leave;
- Employer-set RTT (RTTE) can only be imposed if a notice period is specified in the company agreement;
- Employee-set RTT (RTT) cannot be imposed on employees;
- Approved paid leave and approved RTT can only be canceled with the employer's approval;
- It is considered abusive to impose too many days of leave;
- It is prohibited to ask an employee to take their paid leave or RTT in advance.
Nexoris serves IT Services Companies, Key Accounts and Consulting firms. Contact us to learn more about Talent Sourcing, Third Parties Umbrella Services and Payroll Management Services.
