France 🇫🇷
Congratulations on your decision to hire employees in France! As a nation with a robust economy, a strong industrial base, and a highly skilled workforce, France offers plenty of opportunities for growing your business. Plane simplifies the hiring process for you by offering automated tax document collection, payroll, benefits administration, and more, while ensuring compliance and maximum efficiency. Still, hiring in a new country can pose certain challenges, so we’ve put together the following guide on how to navigate the process of hiring in France.
Currency
EUR
 Onboarding
3-4 weeks minimum
Employer Cost
51%
Pay Frequency
Monthly
Public Holidays
11-13
6 Considerations Before Hiring in France
As an employer in France, it is important to have a comprehensive employment contract that outlines the terms and conditions of the employment relationship. The contract should include need-to-know info on compensation, benefits, vacation time, and sick leave policies. Before onboarding a new employee in France, take a moment to consider the following:
Getting Started with Hiring in France
Employment Contract
In France, employment contracts are crucial for defining the terms and conditions of employment between an employer and an employee. Employment contracts must comply with French labor law, including minimum wage requirements, statutory working hours, leave entitlements, and termination procedures. It’s also important to adhere to any applicable sector-specific collective bargaining agreements.Employers may use two types of employment contracts:
- Contrat à Durée Indéterminée (CDI)/Open-Ended Contracts: The most common type of contract, it doesn't have a specified end date and offers job security to the employee.
- Contrat à Durée Déterminée (CDD)/Fixed-Term Contracts: Used for temporary work. The CDD must specify the end date or the completion of a specific task. Can be renewed twice for a maximum period of 18 months and must be renewed for a specific reason — either replacing an employee, a temporary increase in business, or seasonal employment. Employees whose contracts aren’t made permanent must be paid an indemnity bonus equal to 10% of the gross remuneration paid during the contract, or 6% if so stated in an applicable CBA.
Payroll Timelines and Dates
Pay Frequency: Employee payroll is monthly, with 12 pay periods per year. Pay is distributed on the last business day of the month.Payroll Change Cutoff Dates: To meet payroll deadlines, any changes must be submitted to support@plane.com by the cutoff date. For France, the payroll change cutoff date is on the last business day of the previous month. For example, changes to June payroll would need to be received no later than May 31, if May 31 is a business day.Plane sends payroll summaries to admins at the end of the second week of the month. After that, charges are automatically debited. Payroll summaries are also available to admins in their Plane accounts. Payday may vary based on country requirements.
Working Hours
The typical workweek for a full-time employee is set at 35 hours per week, with working days lasting no longer than 10 hours per day. A contract or CBA could extend the working day or average number of working hours per week. Employees may be required to work more than 35 hours per week, but must be compensated for the extra hours via RTT days or overtime pay (paid at 125% wage for the first 8 hours beyond the standard workweek, and 150% beyond that up to 48 hours per week).Employees either work specific shifts with fixed hours with a lunch break (these hours must be stated in their contract), or organize their working hours on the basis of “day package” work (forfait-jour). Instead of tracking exact working hours, forfait-jour employees work a certain number of days in a year (a maximum of 218). These employees are not eligible for paid overtime, but may receive RTT days as part of their benefits. Â
Public Holidays
France has 11 national public holidays:
- New Year’s Day (January 1)
- Easter Monday
- Labor Day (May 1)
- Victory in Europe Day (May 8)
- Ascension Day
- Pentecost Sunday
- Bastille Day (July 14)
- Assumption (August 15)
- All Saints’ Day (November 1)
- Armistice Day (November 11)
- Christmas Day (December 25)
Compensation
We recommend using Plane's Remote Compensation Tool to check remote salary data in France by job title.
Health Insurance Benefits
Mutuelle is a supplementary health insurance benefit complementary to the Sickness and Maternity insurance benefit provided by French Social Security. When an employee is hospitalized, part of the cost is covered by Social Security and the difference is covered by Mutuelle. Mutuelle also covers short-term disability and long-term disability insurance.We provide Mutuelle for employees in France through Entoria. If employees don’t want to be enrolled, they must send a signed declaration informing us of this. We also offer Prevoyance, an accident insurance that is complementary to Social Security coverage, as social security only covers a portion of an employee’s salary in case of hospitalization or sickness.
Sick Leave
All employees in France are entitled to sick leave if they are unable to work due to illness or injury. To qualify for paid sick leave, employees typically need to have worked a certain minimum period (which varies depending on collective agreement or company policy) and must provide a medical certificate (arrĂŞt de travail) issued by a doctor.The duration of sick leave is determined by the employee's doctor and can be extended if necessary. Employees must notify their employer and send the medical certificate within a specific timeframe, usually within 48 hours of the commencement of the sick leave. Employers may request a medical check to verify the employee's incapacity to work.Social security provides a sickness benefit for eligible employees that have worked for the employer at least one year. In many cases, employers must make up some or all of the difference between the social security benefit and the employee’s normal salary for a maximum of 90 days. This amount is by law, at least 50% of the employee’s normal daily wage, but the exact amount is often governed by applicable CBAs.Â
Vacation Leave
Vacation leave in France, known as "congés payés" (paid holidays), is a well-established and generous aspect of the French labor system. Employees in France are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5 weeks (30 days) of paid vacation annually. These 30 days include five Saturdays. In practice, employees receive 25 days of PTO which fall between Monday and Friday.This entitlement accrues at the rate of 2.5 working days for each month of work completed, which over a standard work year, accumulates to the required minimum of 5 weeks.Vacation leave starts accruing from an employee’s first day of employment. However, employees can typically only start taking their vacation after working for the company for a specific period, usually around one year.The timing for taking vacation leave is generally subject to agreement between the employer and the employee. Employers can set specific periods when leave can be taken, particularly during the traditional summer holiday period in August when many businesses in France slow down or close.Advance notice of one month for vacation time is typical. Apart from annual leave, employees in France may also be entitled to additional days off known as RTT (Réduction du Temps de Travail) days. These are compensatory days off given to employees who work more than the standard 35-hour work week on flexible schedule contracts, or “Convention de Forfait Jours.”During vacation leave, employees are paid their regular salary. In addition, they may receive a vacation allowance and vacation bonus, usually equal to 10% of their normal salary, which is intended to help cover the extra expenses associated with taking a holiday. Employees in France are entitled to short paid leaves for major events in their personal lives:
- 4 days for the employee’s marriage or civil solidarity pact (PACS)
- 1 day for the wedding of an employee’s child
- 3 days for the death of an employee’s partner, parents, stepparent, or sibling, and
- 5 days for the death of the employee’s child (7 days if the child was younger than 25)
Sabbatical Leave
Employees with at least 36 months of service and six years of professional activity are eligible to request a sabbatical leave if they haven’t requested one in the past six years.Sabbaticals can last between six to 11 months, and are unpaid, job-protected leave. The employee must inform the employer by letter at least three months in advance, and the employer has 30 days from receipt of this request to reply. The employer can refuse to grant sabbatical leave.At the end of the sabbatical period agreed upon by employer and employee, the employee should be able to return to their position or a similar position with similar compensation.
Maternity / Paternity / Parental Leave
Job protected maternity leave lasts 16 weeks, after which employees may take job protected parental leave.Employees may be eligible for a maternity daily allowance from Social Security while on maternity leave. Only employees with more than a year of service are eligible to take maternity leave. Mothers having more than one child or mothers who already have children may receive additional time for paid maternity leave, up to 46 weeks, depending on the circumstances.The father or partner can receive three days of birth leave and 25 days of paternity leave. The three days of birth leave must be taken during the week immediately following the child’s birth, followed immediately by four days of paternity leave. However, the remaining 21 days of paternity leave may be taken anytime in the six months following birth, or may be waived. The employer pays for the three days of birth leave, while social security pays for the remainder of paternity leave days.Employees who adopt a child may receive up to 10 weeks of adoption leave, or 18 weeks if the adoption brings the total number of children in the family to three or more. Adoption leave increases to 22 weeks for adopting multiple children. Employees’ contracts are suspended, but protected during pregnancy, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave. Employees are entitled to return to their old job or an equivalent position following parental leave. In most cases, employers are not required to pay employees’ salaries during maternity, paternity, or parental leave as they will usually receive payments from Social Security.
Employment / Termination
Termination in France is a highly regulated process (known as Rupture Conventionnelle Individuelle) that can take some time to settle. First, the employer must issue a written notice to the employee, inviting them to a meeting to discuss the terms of separation. Once the employer has met with the employee and they agree to the offboarding terms, the employer and employee fill out and sign an online government form known as Cerfa acknowledging this agreement. There is a grace period of 15 calendar days where either party can change their minds.After this grace period ends, the employer sends the form to the Work Inspectorate which decides within 15 business days whether the process was valid or not, and if the compensation meets the minimum legal requirements. If the Work Inspectorate approves it, the employment contract ends at either the end of the 15 open days or an agreed-upon date, whichever is later.It is important to note that Plane does not facilitate unilateral terminations or dismissals, due to risk of litigation that can expose employers to increased damages. Also, the grounds for these terminations may not be valid for an employer of record. Severance Pay: By law, the legal minimum severance pay is 1/4 month’s salary per year of service, and 1/3 month’s salary per year of service over 10 years. This amount may be higher if your employee is covered by a CBA.
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*rates for: December 4, 2024
Once you have sorted out the details mentioned above, you can add the employee to the Plane platform. We provide a step-by-step workflow that shows what tasks need to be completed, as well as real-time updates and notifications. This way, you can stay on top of the hiring process at all times. With Plane, you can confidently hire, knowing that you have a powerful platform at your disposal to manage the entire process from start to finish. Here are the instructions for adding a new employee to the platform:
How to hire and onboard an employee
Plane offers a guided process for administrators and managers to hire and onboard their new employees...
Learn moreHiring an employee in a new country can be a complex process, but with the right guidance and resources, it can be a smooth and successful transition. At Plane, we're committed to helping you navigate the process of hiring an employee in France. We'll keep you informed and up-to-date with the latest regulations and employment laws.Best of luck with your new hire, and welcome to France!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the answers to some common questions about hiring employees in France with Plane:
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