French ICMIF member MAIF and its subsidiaries MAIF Solutions financières, Altima Assurances, SMACL Assurances and MAIF VIE, have created national support framework agreements with the French Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories to encourage the mobilisation of salaried volunteer firefighters, and to ease the conditions for employees across the mutual organisations to take up this civic commitment. This initiative is in line with MAIF’s objectives as a “société à mission” (a company with a mission), and MAIF says each of its actions is working towards the common good.

In recent years, climate change has led to an unprecedented increase in natural disasters. There are 197,800 volunteer firefighters in France representing up to 80% of the workforce of certain departmental fire and rescue services and, due to issues such as natural disasters, these volunteers are being mobilised more and more regularly. To meet this collective challenge, MAIF is supporting volunteer firefighters in the interest of the common good through national agreements signed with the General Directorate for Civil Security and Crisis Management of the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories.

These agreements aim to facilitate the mobilisation of volunteers for exceptional events, such as the major fires of the summer of 2022, but also to encourage a daily commitment. In concrete terms, MAIF will now grant 20 days of their working time to its volunteer firefighters each year to honour their commitment (ie 10% of their annual working time). These days can be used in the form of days, half days or hours. During these absences from the normal day-to-day work, the employees’ salaries will still be paid.

Thanks to this working hours arrangement, MAIF hopes to encourage new vocations by allowing employees to train to become volunteer firefighters during their working hours.

Recognising the contribution of its employees to the common good, MAIF says it is committed to ensuring that time spent away from the workplace is treated as actual working time for the purposes of determining the duration of paid leave, entitlement to social benefits and rights linked to seniority.

“The commitment of our volunteer firefighters is an opportunity for our society; it is also an asset for our company to benefit from volunteers who are committed to the common good. With this national agreement, we have chosen to support and reward this commitment to citizenship,” said Evelyne Llauro-Barrès, Deputy Managing Director of Human Resources, MAIF Group.

Photo: Nicolas Friess/MAIF