Michelin promises living wage for workers worldwide

Company also boosts benefits, continuous training for employees

Michelin promises living wage for workers worldwide

The Michelin Group has announced that it will be making three large innovations to help foster “social and societal cohesion” in France as well as other parts of the world.

One of its changes is a ‘living wage’ to guarantee employees a salary at least equivalent to the living wage concept defined in the United Nations Global Compact, of which Michelin has been a signatory of since 2010.

In early 2024, Michelin was also certified as a ‘Global Living Wage Employer’ by the Fair Wage Network, a non-governmental organization, attesting that all employees receive remuneration at least equivalent to the living wage.

The living wage is meant to enable each employee to provide for their family’s essential needs (such as food, housing, transport, children’s education, and healthcare) “while also providing for unexpected events and buying consumer goods,” says Michelin.

Employee benefits for Michelin workers worldwide

Secondly, the company is deploying a universal social protection floor as part of the Michelin One Care Program. This provides a package of social benefits to all employees worldwide, focusing on three priorities:

  • offering time to welcome a child, with at least 14 weeks’ maternity/adoption leave and four weeks’ paternity/adoption leave at full pay
  • protecting the family of a deceased employee, with the payment of a death benefit equal to at least one year’s salary
  • an education annuity for orphans until the end of their post-secondary education, regardless of the employee’s length of service.

The firm is also promising lifeline learning, it said in a release.

“Continuous training has always been a central focus of Michelin’s social policies. Faced with the accelerating transformation of work life and jobs, the Group has overhauled its continuous training offer by developing a unique lifelong learning approach in order to foster its associates’ employability.”

The ambition is to go beyond standard continuous training, which is occasional, in the event of a specific need or job change, to offer all employees “easy and permanent access to learning throughout their career.”

The project will build on the development of The Talent Campus, Michelin’s company university that opened in 2022. With 1,000 teaching contributors, The Talent Campus offers all employees - regardless of their level - training courses in all fields, such as technical, scientific, managerial and behavioural.

“The aim of the training center is to enhance a person’s lifelong employability by offering excellence in training for tomorrow’s jobs, to benefit people and the local community,” said Michelin.