Productivity bonuses: for more than 3.2 million employees an average of EUR 1,581 with the 5% flat rate

There are more than 12,000 (12,073 to be precise) still active productivity contracts deposited at the Ministry of Labour as of 15 April, with a 13.7% increase in deposits compared to the same period in 2024 (which, in turn, had already marked an increase of close to 20% compared to the previous year). Most of the active ones are company contracts (9,821), but it is territorial contracts that continue to show the greatest growth, with an increase of 19.9% between mid-April 2024 and 2025 (from 1,878 to 2,252).

There are 3,239,236 workers who benefit from the performance bonus, of which 2,228,473 refer to company contracts and 1,010,763 to territorial contracts. The average annual value of the bonus is EUR 1,581.51, of which EUR 1,807.52 refers to company contracts and EUR 681.51 to territorial contracts. The purposes of the active contracts are different: 9,850 productivity targets, 7,803 profitability targets, 6,186 quality targets, while 1,255 include a participation plan and 7,399 corporate welfare measures. In the percentage breakdown of companies that make use of this instrument in terms of employees, half concern companies with less than 50 employees. The remaining share is divided between companies with at least 100 employees (35%) and those in the intermediate bracket with between 50 and 99 employees (15%). There continues to be a strong imbalance in the division by geographic area, since the 12,073 contracted deposits still active largely concern companies in the North (73%), followed at a distance by those in the Centre (17%) and the South (10%). By sector of economic activity, 62% of the companies concerned operate in Services, 37% in Industry and 1% in Agriculture.

As is known, also for 2025 the bonuses paid to workers are subject to a substitute tax rate that the Budget Law for 2023 (Article 1, Paragraph 63 of Law No. 197/2022) halved compared to the past and increased to 5%. The tax relief had been confirmed in the manoeuvre for 2024 and according to the Budget Law 2025 it will be active in the three-year period 2025-2027. It benefits private-sector employees with a fixed-term or open-ended subordinate employment relationship and an employee income not exceeding EUR 80,000 in the previous year, up to a maximum of EUR 3,000 gross, which can be increased to EUR 4,000 in companies that involve workers equally in the organisation of work.